What would encourage you to travel by Public Transport?

Here is a short review of what Europeans find is the most contributing factor for trusting the public transport networks, with some additions already found on Maltese public transport! And add any ideas in the comments of what you think can also benefit the bus riders!

In Malta a leading public transport provider is the bus service by Transport Malta. Their efforts in the last years have shown that various improvements have been made to the busses to make trips more convenient for travelers. Among these developments is onboard WiFi available for passengers as well as USB charging ports for the use of riders. Transport Malta has also stated that the recent year has seen 57million passengers onboard, a significant increase from previous years signifying that a choice by those customers was to use public transport as opposed to renting or using cars.

However, could bus services improve to accommodate local and returning customers? Some highly regarded features mentioned by frequent bus users across Europe found that the most requested attribute was for more frequent and timely busses. The ability to stay on time in Malta may depend on traffic and time of day, as either no traffic or too much of it may alter the times slightly, meaning passengers have to arrive to bus stops early and wait for the bus. Also, some distant bus stops such as that found near Golden Bay has an average 1 hour waiting time between scheduled busses. 

To accommodate passengers the Tallinja App was launched, which has a competently timed bus schedule as well as includes a journey planner allowing bus users to input the location and destination and receiving a choice of routes one may take. An online TM Journey planner can be found Here. 

Another sought after improvement to busses is a better and quicker ticketing system, which has also recently been launched in Malta. Through contactless payment, the user can scan their bank card and obtain a bus ticket just as easily as scanning the Tallinja Card! The use of touchless payment systems can allow prompter loading of riders and benefit the trip's timely route. 

Join our discussion below and share your thoughts on how public transport can be improved to encourage more people to use it in their daily life, instead of private vehicles. Add your suggestion below!