Directive increases traffic around hospital

The traffic-burdened locality of Pietà is suffering from an even greater flow of cars due to the suspension of the direct bus service linking towns and villages to St Luke's Hospital, Pietà mayor Malcolm Mifsud said.

As a result of action ordered by the Public Transport Association in its dispute with the government, bus route 75 was suspended as of August 13 with carless citizens who need to go to hospital having to catch a bus to Valletta first.

Dr Mifsud said that due to the directive, the number of people using their cars to get to St Luke's has grown in the past two days, leading to worse traffic and parking problems in the locality.

"The locality cannot sustain more logistical pressures, because we simply do not have the space," Dr Mifsud said.

Meanwhile, there has been no breakthrough in the industrial dispute between bus owners and the Malta Transport Authority as both parties stuck to their guns over the weekend.

In line with the directives issued by the bus owners' association, which came into effect on Thursday night, public transport on most routes stops at 8 p.m. with only routes 11,19, 22, 45, 48, 49, 62 and 70 running as usual from Monday to Friday.

Bus owners are insisting that the Lm1.1 million subsidy offer made by the government is not enough, after first demanding an extra Lm600,000 and later cutting their request by half.

The government refused the demand, warning that the subsidy would decrease by Lm2,000 a day until directives are lifted.

The PTA insists that the subsidies issue is masking the government's real intention, which is to reduce the number of bus operators' licenses. It has warned that unless the government concedes to its request, it will start laying off 40 employees as of Tuesday.

PTA president Victor Spiteri said most of these workers had been employed by the PTA to replace ticket inspectors formerly employed by the transport authority.

Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett has warned that another Lm5,000 from the promised subsidy would be deducted for each employee laid off by the PTA.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Spiteri said there had been no meeting with the government or the ADT and that the directives still held.