Bisazza Street: government to fork out more money to Arriva

The government’s decision to pedestrianise Bisazza Street in Sliema comes at a cost for Transport Malta as this will require the upgrading of the junction near the Piazzetta at Ghar-id-Dud at an estimated cost of approximately €100,000, and an increase in the yearly fee due to Arriva “at the contracted rates”, a spokesperson for the authority told MaltaToday.

The buses will no longer pass through Bisazza Street and instead take the Tigné seafront route.

It turns out that it was only on 21 April – five months after Transport Malta signed the agreement with Arriva – that the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs asked Transport Malta to consider the complete pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street. This meant the decision to have a fully pedestrianised street was left up until too late for any changes to the Arriva contract.

Subsequently Transport Malta engineers submitted a report, which still recommended the partial pedestrianisation of Bisazza to allow buses to go through the street. 

The TM spokesperson said that originally, the resources ministry first consulted the authority in late 2009 when the pedestrianisation was at the design stage. “The designs – approved by TM and eventually approved by MEPA – were based on the premise that buses would be passing through Bisazza Street, so much so that a bus corridor delineated by bollards was included in the design and this was reflected in the way the street has been constructed.”

In January 2011 MEPA approved plans for an enlarged public pavement with a 4-metre-wide “bus lane” accessible one way from Tower Road to the waterfront.

But on 21 April, TM was asked by the ministry to consider the complete pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street. “This was five months after the contract with Arriva had been signed when 60% of the preparation period for the service handover had gone by with planning for Bisazza Street as open to buses,” the TM spokesperson told MaltaToday.

TM said that on 9 May, its engineers submitted a report examining three options – full pedestrianisation, partial pedestrianisation and a do nothing option – with the preferred option being partial pedestrianisation, allowing only buses to go through Bisazza Street. “The report was produced internally so no costs were involved,” the TM spokesperson said.

Subsequently the government chose the full pedestrianisation option, directing TM to implement the decision.

Midi plc yesterday said it never requested or put pressure on government or any authority to pedestrianise Bisazza Street and reduce parking at The Ferries.

Referring to claims that traffic was being diverted away from Sliema’s traditional shopping complex and through the Tigné tunnel thanks to the semi-pedestrianised Bisazza Street, Midi said its position was that bothBisazza Street and the Qui Si Sana seafront routes should be allowed access to motorists.

“We have always believed that funnelling all Sliema’s arterial traffic through one single route was bound to cause congestion, whereas splitting it would have resulted in a smoother traffic flow and fewer tailbacks,” spokesperson Ben Muscat said.

Midi said that if Bisazza Street is closed – it will be offering access to public transport busses only – then steps need to be taken to alleviate the Tigné seafront traffic flow. Midi said the seafront was “choked with a combination of herringbone parking, ‘double parked’ cars hovering for vacant spaces, an unofficial double-decker sightseeing tour bus terminus and other hindrances which really should have been seen to before the tunnel was opened.“

“The Point Shopping Mall and Pjazza Tigné were designed to complement and enhance the existing retail product at the Ferries in order to establish Sliema as Malta’s leading shopping destination,” Muscat said.

“Shopping in Sliema needs to be approached in a more holistic manner and the two busy retail areas should be viewed by planners as one homogeneous zone.”