Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1498955
11 COMMERCIAL 11.5.2023 Bus company registers highest number of passengers ever travelling in one day MALTA Public Transport registered an absolute daily record on Friday 21 April when its buses carried more than 208,000 passengers. The company said this represents an increase of 4,500 passengers when compared to the previous record reg- istered on Friday 4 October 2019. MPT is a subsidiary of Autobuses de Leon and operates the Malta bus net- work. Since last October passengers with a Tal-Linja card started travel- ling for free with government fully subsidising the service. MPT said 5.4 million passengers travelled by bus during April this year, which is at par with the previous month. When compared to April 2022 and 2019, this translates to an increase of 41.4% and 13% respectively. Over 4.2 million passengers used their Tallinja Card to travel last month, which represents an increase of 31.7% compared to 2019. The com- pany saw around 6,000 new Tallinja Card registrations. "During April, we carried the highest number of bus passengers in one day, since the beginning of our operation," Konrad Pulé, the General Manager of Malta Public Transport said. "While this record number of bus passen- gers is a positive sign, we believe that we can attract even more passengers by implementing measures that will make public transport journey times shorter and more attractive. We look forward to continued discussions with the various stakeholders in this regard." To cater for the growing passenger demand, following discussions with the authorities, plans are underway to increase the frequency on a number of the busiest routes in the coming weeks. Moneybase wins Tech.mt Best App Award MONEYBASE has won Best App in the Tech.mt e-Business Awards on the eve of its first-year anniversary. is is the second award it has won in the first year since its inception. Moneybase also won the Best Finan- cial Institution Award at the Malta Business Awards held last October. Alan Cuschieri, CEO and founder of Moneybase, said: "Since launch- ing less than a year ago, we have been dedicated to offer the highest stand- ards possible, and we continue to see encouraging results with a client base now reaching 35,000. I would like to thank our customers for their contin- uous support as well as the passionate team behind such a successful prod- uct that has received such a warm wel- come in the community at large. We humbly continue our journey to make money simple." e awards ceremony took place at the Westin Dragonara Resort where local businesses received the most distinguishing awards from the local tech scene. Commenting on what comes next for Moneybase, Cuschieri said that fol- lowing the initial launch the company added Google pay and joint accounts, which allow Moneybase customers to switch from their personal account to their joint account and to have a separate card for each. He promised "more exciting announcements" later this year. e eBusiness Awards is an annu- al event that aims to acknowledge unique and innovative ideas and ini- tiatives in the use of web-based tech- nologies and eBusiness for businesses and society at large. Back in 2011, CCTrader which is now known as Moneybase Invest also won best ecommerce platform when it launched Malta's first online trading platform. e eBusiness Awards are organized by Tech.mt, a public-private partner- ship between the government and the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enter- prise and Industry, to promote Malta as a tech centre for innovative tech- nologies. As a next-generation financial plat- form, Moneybase provides invest- ments and payments in a single eco- system backed by local ISO certified customer support seven days a week. Customers can send and receive per- son-to-person payments, as well as make both domestic and international transfers. Users may also opt to receive their salary, pension or stipend direct- ly onto their Moneybase IBAN. Mon- eybase customers save when travel- ling or making international payments thanks to the platform's competitive currency rates and the Moneybase card's multicurrency capabilities. Moneybase may be downloaded from the App Store or Play Store and the Moneybase Mastercard may be ordered for free from the app itself. With Moneybase Invest, users can invest locally on the Malta Stock Ex- change including new bond issues and IPOs or tap into over 40 internation- al markets with over 20,000 stocks, ETFs, bonds and funds through the award-winning platform. e plat- form also offers fractional shares and extended hours trading, which pro- vide an additional 9.5 hours of US market access. Moneybase is part of the Calamatta Cuschieri Finance Group. Moneybase CEO Alan Cuschieri and CTO Ian Farrugia