Malta Public Transport offers free bus rides to vulnerable job-seekers

Vulnerable job-seekers can now make use of free public transport, after Malta Public Transport signed an agreement with the Malta Association of Supported Employment, offering participants of the Positive Supported Employment Programme (PSEP) free credit on their tallinja bus cards so they can attend training sessions and job interviews.

The PSEP provides vulnerable individuals in the poverty line with training sessions to help them build the necessary skills to find a job.

PSEP executive director Marthese Mugliette said public transport is the only means of mobility for most participants. “Such gestures will enable them to integrate better within society,” she said.

Malta Public Transport said the initiative would encourage people to develop their skills to be more independent. “We believe that giving a little helping hand to get started can boost their motivation and actually make a difference,” MPT general manager Konrad Pulé said.

The agreement comes just one day after data for 2015 from the National Statistics Office showed that Malta’s monetary “at-risk-of-poverty” rate had increased over 2014, with 16.3% of households falling into this category.

The figures also showed that the more serious “at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion indicator” has seen 5,000 persons exit from poverty, bringing the number donw 22.4% in 2015, from 23.8% in 2014.

These are people whose income is below the poverty line, but are also severely materially deprived, and who lived in low work intensity households.