The Gozo University Group said in a statement today that “Arriva’s changes in routes this summer have provided a better service for local bus commuters but GUG feels that more could be done for the X1 Route.”

“This summer,” GUG continued, “Arriva together with Gharghur Local council, agreed upon setting up a new route. Now, Route 136 links Gharghur and Birkirakara as a result of solid research and discussions from both sides. The X1 route linking the airport, Msida and the Gozo Ferry also underwent some changes but for the Gozitan student these changes were poor in commodity.”

“The route does not conform to the Gozitan students’ needs. Reliability is key, this is due to lecture timetables, the Gozo Ferry timetable and most evidently Arriva buses’ timetable.

“Because of the Airport route, buses lose time when coming through Msida and Mater Dei before continuing for the Ferry. This renders a non-definite time-span of bus arrivals and departures resulting in major losses of time for the students, especially when the Ferry they want to catch departs at their arrival at the harbour. The buses are thus usually late and fail to synchronize with Gozo Channel’s schedule.” GUG said.

“We feel that a quick look at the past could solve the problem,” GUG stated, “previously to the Arriva service, the 450 bus route operated using one bus which would depart every hour from the Mater Dei bus stop. Leaving 10 minutes after each hour’s tick, it would give students the time to get to the bus stop at each lecture’s conclusion before leaving for the Ferry. The result was a perfect synchronization with the Gozo Ferry line.”

GUG said that even if students waited longer they would be certain of the buses’ leaving time allowing them to prepare their departure according to their schedule. “Waiting upon the bus to leave is not a problem – it is the time wasted on a bus stop with unknown bus arrivals that triggers an uncomfortable wait, especially in bad weather conditions.

“Just as this applies to Gozitain students, this could surely concern patient-visitors travelling to and from Mater Dei and also daily workers that need to travel to Gozo.”

GUG went on to say that similar to the agreement that was reached thanks to the collaboration between Gharghur Local counsil and Arriva , the X1 matter should be handled with discussions and research respectively. Many local organisations are willing to talk with Arriva and negotiate better routes for such people.

“To our delight, Arriva has already accepted a request of ours to meet them in the past and the reunion had led to some better implementations. However we urge Arriva to meet up not only with GUG but also with other local organisations and NGOs to steadily improve routes such as the X1. We hope for further talks and better planning,” GUG concluded.

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