Buses and Punctuality
I do love the concept of using buses, and the possibility it provides to save having to park. I must say that frequency has improved around my home, and with the new Tal-Linja App, this has become easier indeed as I can get a good idea of scheduled transport times.
The problem is that increased traffic gridlocks are making transport impossible - especially since bus stops are so frequent: if one only thinks that from my home to Valletta, there are as many as 25 stops, it's downright madness. Stops are a couple of hundred meters - if at all - and while this makes it easier for persons who have difficulty walking, it does mean that the buses are also slowing down traffic. The streets are too narrow to allow safe overtaking when a bus stops, particularly the seafront road, which is one-lane each way and the bus lanes are not always wide or, even, available. It doesn't help that there is a practice not to use the bus lanes, but just stop in the middle of the carriageway, thereby stopping all traffic. It is not just about punctuality, but also about a longer journey route.
If all people were to be able to use buses, it would help but this is rendered difficult by the fact that the routes are badly planned. There is sometimes the longest and most illogical route from A to B, so that the journey is not only made longer by it being a bus journey, but also by it being planned in the least convenient way, and definitely not the way one would choose by car. No wonder people still use their own transport!
The problem is that increased traffic gridlocks are making transport impossible - especially since bus stops are so frequent: if one only thinks that from my home to Valletta, there are as many as 25 stops, it's downright madness. Stops are a couple of hundred meters - if at all - and while this makes it easier for persons who have difficulty walking, it does mean that the buses are also slowing down traffic. The streets are too narrow to allow safe overtaking when a bus stops, particularly the seafront road, which is one-lane each way and the bus lanes are not always wide or, even, available. It doesn't help that there is a practice not to use the bus lanes, but just stop in the middle of the carriageway, thereby stopping all traffic. It is not just about punctuality, but also about a longer journey route.
If all people were to be able to use buses, it would help but this is rendered difficult by the fact that the routes are badly planned. There is sometimes the longest and most illogical route from A to B, so that the journey is not only made longer by it being a bus journey, but also by it being planned in the least convenient way, and definitely not the way one would choose by car. No wonder people still use their own transport!
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