Put Malta-Gozo fast ferry under public ownership, Graffitti tells the government
The NGO Graffitti has called on the government to put the Malta-Gozo fast ferry under public ownership to ensure that the needs of the residents are prioritized.
In a statement, she requested immediate government action to restore the schedule within the framework of a service that gives priority to the common good.
Virtue Ferries and Gozo Fast Ferry have both announced new winter timetables for journeys from the City to Gozo under which the last ferry will leave Valletta from 4.30pm during the week. They said that their last journey would leave from Imġarr, Gozo at 5pm during the week and at 5.30pm at the weekend.
The reduced schedule drew strong condemnation from Gozitan businesses and student lobby groups, as well as from the Gozo Tourism Association.
Shortly after it was announced, the government offered a two-year, €12 million public service contract to continue operating the ferries and both operators promised to increase the number of trips once these talks were concluded. .
Wednesday Graffitti said that she is angry “with the sudden and unfair reduction” of the service, a necessary link for students and workers who travel between the islands.
“The provision of this fast ferry service through two private companies that need to make a profit, instead of a public service run for the common good, was a grave mistake from the very beginning that made the current flop inevitable,” she said.
Graffitti said that only 15 months after it was inaugurated, the Gozo fast ferry, which was intended as an efficient game changer for travel between the two islands, is facing a sudden interruption of its service.
“Until last week, 12-13 trips per day were being offered by the fast ferry between Malta and Gozo. Suddenly, without prior notice, the Gozo Fast Ferry service was reduced to just five trips a day, with a few trips in the morning and a few trips in the evening.
“Ironically, while this essential service is being left to falter, the government is proposing an unviable and destructive airstrip in Gozo in the name of improved connectivity between the islands.
“This is an insult to all Gozitan and Maltese residents,” she said.
Graffitti said that many, during the past months, have become increasingly dependent on the fast ferry, hoping to avoid traffic by traveling directly to Valletta.
Some abandoned their cars and the ability to board the fast ferry by bicycle made it an attractive service for many bicycle users. “Its sudden removal is unacceptable and needs to be reversed immediately.”
Note that the government’s offer to subsidize companies that will improve their service in no way constituted a long-term solution for the provision of an effective fast ferry at a reasonable price. It also does not make much financial sense for the government to use taxpayers’ money to subsidize the profits of private companies when it can offer the service itself directly.
“As an essential public service, the provision of a fast link between Valletta and Gozo should have been under public ownership from the beginning. The government’s insistence on approaching the private sector and then heavily subsidizing the service when it failed shows that its priority is, as always, business over the common good.
“The privatization of this service has already led to an increase in fares and the dismissal of the use of the Tallinja card, which had provided a rationalization of public transport, which shows how public services run by private companies. in fact they make the service worse, not better,” Graffitti. he insisted.
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