Goodbye Arriva

So, Arriva have thrown in the towel after two years.  ( http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140102/local/arriva-bows-out-with-share-transfer-agreement-behind-closed-doors.501146#.UtPeg9HuPIU )

I have no beef with Arriva, and they certainly got off to a bad start with so many drivers walking out on day 1, and the introduction of such a radical timetable, but you have to wonder why the information available to passengers was always so bad ( hence this website ) and no wonder passengers wanted their old buses when the new big-bang approach was so disruptive.

The last time I caught an Arriva bus it was from the airport. There were neat new bus stops with different numbers laid out along the access road. The buses didn’t seem to pay any attention to them, huddling at one end ( along with the passengers ) and then pulling forward a few feet before then telling everyone where that bus was going by calling out. It did not seem particularly slick, but maybe it worked.

Looking forward to all the new routes and numbers. Interesting to see what happens as the current network is quite a mix of the new and old.

 

Summer timetable?

Ive had a question which has stumped me, can anyone help?

Help! We will be arriving in Gozo on 19 April for one week. I don’t know whether the buses will be running to their SUMMER or WINTER timetables that week. Can you advise?

 

Night Buses

Are the night buses running these days? last summer I dont think they were – or not properly. Im going to be over in a few weeks so will find out myself, but have done a night bus tab that I meant to do about six months ago. But you know how it is…

Thanks to those who sent those new maps from arriva in – it has made it much easier.

ben

Fame at last

If you are German, and you buy a travel guide to malta, you now get the best bus network map around, though sadly slightly outdated the day it was printed!

Quick Update

Not entirely related to maltese bus routes, but the last 3 months has seen me change jobs and move towns, so Ive been a bit distracted – and plans for a month in Malta have been put back – however I have made a quick update to a short deadline, to make the latest version possible to meet the printing deadlines for the German tourist guide – I have made a number of changes based on changes rumoured for the end of the month, but still not too much on arrivas website. I expect ill make a few more fixes as we get close to May 27th timetable changes. Ben

I might not want to ask this but…

It says in the times of Malta that the Blata l-Bajda park and ride is no longer served by a park and ride bus? Im just here to document the routes and try not to comment but you can’t help wondering what the point of a Park and Ride scheme is without the ride, and then to punish parkers who don’t ride, becuase they can’t, by charging more. Has someone in ATP gone completely mad? Has the whole transport strategy been thrown out the window in the rush to fix the route problems.

More importantly ( ! ) is my route map wrong? I only show the floriana park and ride, I thought in my ignorance that was the Blata l-Bajda one. Is it not?

I always said I liked google

Ive been a bit quiet lately as I have had a day job for the last month or so, and  hopefully with the off season and the bus routes settling, I dont need to micro manage the site.

Google however has been busy- if you type anything sensible in the search box, maltabusroutes comes up on the first page, 8th or 9th – yay –  and most of the other entries have linked in as well – A special hello to Brendan of www.maltabybus.com and Mark from www.seat61.com , both brilliant websites, who have been very supportive.

 A similar results on the images search ( first page ) but still a lot of old bus maps out there and I come in quite a way along the first page – need to check how to raise my image rankings.

Ill turn to some tidying up over xmas – and make a start on doing the night buses, probably in time for when I am around to use them myself 🙂

Happy xmas all! Thanks as ever for all the corrections. Any major bloopers outstanding that you’ve already told me about?

Ben

Update at Last

So, got started on the Nov 6th updates. I welcome the usual errors being spotted!

Some questions…

 24 does it go as far as st julians  
81 does it go into zejtun  
91/92 which one goes via zonqor  
101/102 which one goes to selmun  
117/118 airport/Zurrieq loop  
122 does it go to the hospital  
123 confirm route  
130-133 all now one route as the 133?  
204 does it exist?

cheers!

Getting some “shape” back

With a number of corrections and updats sent in, I seem to be getting the map back into an image which makes sense as a whole.

With that in mind, I have taken minor liberties with reality – for example the 84 doesn’t follow the exact line of the other 80’s buses out of Valletta – but the simplicity of implying that it does, versus the impact on taking the bus makes it worth it – as an overview, its only meant to be a start point for getting a bus in the rigth direction!

Im waiting for a few things to settle down before fixing them which I know are outstanding.

• What goes round St Thomas’ Bay and what doesn’t
• Where the 124 goes at all – the timetable and the map on Arriva don’t match
• The Magical Mystery X23 express from Bugibba to Golden Bay, for which no information exists – I suspect this short term fix will morph into an official “summer only” service.

Tidying up

I have merged together all the routes which I think run from Marsa Park and Ride up the Hamrun bypass and straight to Mater Dei or the University, without doing anything different along the way. Its a break from the previous layout standard but I imagined how it would look if you twisted multiple electrical cables together and it certainly has freed up a lot of space. To be consistant I should do the same from Valletta to Bombi but I dont want to. Ill have a think.

I expect the following errors have crept in.

1. The routes of the 22/32
2. Stopping points around Kappara, Sqwieqi, Ta Giorni
3. Stopping points in Santa Venera

All comments welcome!