Malta Public Transport has said that its vehicles are being cleaned “multiple times during the day using hospital-grade products and all the fleet is fumigated every night.”
Perspex separators have also been installed between the driver and passengers and reduced standing capacity to allow more space between users, the company said.
It stressed that for the protection of customers, buses are monitored 24 hours a day from the control room using GPS and CCTV systems on board. “The MPT is in continuous contact with authorities to ensure that journeys are as safe as possible for everyone.”
MPT also announced that it is extending contactless payment points to 80 buses operating on busy routes.
Passengers without a Tallinja card may purchase on-bus tickets through their contactless card or device, including BOVPay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and GarminPay enabled smartphones and watches.
This choice of payment method not only makes onboarding significantly faster but eliminates the handling of physical money and minimises contact, MPT said.
Efforts by Malta Public Transport to reduce the exchange of cash in the last years have led to easy, hassle-free travel and the operator said that it envisages cashless payments to increase further with the installation of a fully-integrated contactless system on all buses, which is planned for the first quarter of 2021 implementing the new OP2GO solution from Ingenico.
Malta Public Transport reminded customers of the measures that are in place to safeguard their well-being and that of its employees.
Passengers choosing to pay in cash are to have the exact fare as bus drivers are unable to give back change and face masks are to be worn at all times on the bus.