Starting the morning stuck in heavy traffic congestion, ingesting a dose of CO2 emissions and facing drivers’ aggression does not augur well for a serene day ahead.
Those living and working around the harbour area can now get a free, eight-minute ferry ride between the Three Cities, Valletta and Sliema while inhaling a breath of fresh sea air and taking in the views… with the added stress-saver of not having to find parking.
The Valletta Ferry Service became free from January 15, and those holding a Tallinja card no longer need to pay €2 for a single trip or €3.80 for a return ticket, leading to substantial savings.
This forms part of Transport Malta’s multimodality objectives, to reduce congestion, improve air quality, and elevate the overall quality of life for residents. Additionally, Tallinja card holders can also access the Barrakka Lift for free, which provides a shortcut to the capital city’s centre.
The initiative is proving to be very popular — the service has witnessed a spike in demand with the ferries shuttling close to 290,000 passengers between January and March of this year compared to the same period last year when 194,501 used the ferry service.
In 2023, the total number of passengers travelling between Valletta and Cottonera stood at 497,998; while a substantially higher number — 760,385 — travelled between Valletta and Sliema.
Travelling patterns are shifting and Valletta Ferry Service general manager Joe Sant Fournier said: “We are witnessing an increase in traffic coming from The Three Cities; we believe the passengers are mostly Maltese who have started using this ferry since the introduction of the free service.”
Transport Minister Chris Bonett has welcomed the encouraging trends emerging so far and said: “The work the government is doing to provide alternative methods of transport to reduce the traffic on our roads is bearing fruit.”
The decision to waive the fees ties in with the opening of a spanking new landing terminal at the Sliema Ferries, which forms part of a €5 million investment covering another ferry landing site in Cospicua.
The harbour ferry service has a long history dating back to the late 1800s, and giving the Sliema Ferries its name. It also inspired the much-loved children’s song “Lanca gejja u ohra sejra, minn Tas-Sliema ghall-Marsamxett. Il-kaptan bil-pipa f’halqu, jidderiegi l-bastiment… (A ferry is coming and another is leaving, from Sliema to Marsamxett. The master, with a pipe in his mouth, directing the vessel…)
The service between Sliema and Marsamxett was revived in 1991, but the service didn’t take off properly. Since 2012, Valletta Ferry Service has now been successfully operating the two existing shuttle services linking Sliema and the Three Cities with Valletta.
“People’s response has been very positive and we will continue to explore new possibilities to further facilitate the connections between land and sea,” Sant Fournier said.