A record 208,027 passengers used the buses on Friday, April 21, Malta Public Transport said on Wednesday.

That beat the previous day record set on Friday, October 4, 2019, which was 4,500 lower.

Bus usage became free of charge for local residents late last year. 

The operator said 5.4 million passengers travelled by bus during April, which was on the same level as the previous month. When compared to April 2022 and 2019, this translated to increases of 41.4% and 13.0% respectively.

During April 2023 over 4.2 million passengers used their Tallinja bus card to travel which represented an increase of 31.7% compared to 2019, with 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,” said Konrad Pulé, General Manager of Malta Public Transport.

“While this record number of bus passengers 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.”

The company said plans are underway to increase the frequency on a number of the busiest routes in the coming weeks.