Gozo Fast Ferry Keeps Long Gaps In New Schedule, Frustrating Gozitans Who Work In Malta
Gozo’s fast ferry has just released its schedule for the month of June, and it’s causing a degree of frustration for some Gozitan workers who must commute to Malta everyday.
The schedule is unchanged, with ten trips departing from Mġarr (Gozo) to Valletta everyday, the earliest at 6am and the latest at 8:15pm, and ten daily reverse trips from the capital to Mġarr, from 7am to 9:15pm.
However, while trips depart every hour in the early morning and late afternoon, there are some jarring gaps in the schedule.
Particularly, there are no trips from Valletta to Gozo between 5:15pm and 7:15pm, hours in which many people finish work.
Nor are there any trips between 10am and 1:15pm, even though many educators now finish school at noon.
These incongruences were flagged by the Association for Gozitan Employees in Malta [AGEM], which said the schedule indicates that the fast ferry operators didn’t consult with its daily commuters whatsoever.
“AGEM urges both operators of the fast ferry service to start really taking into consideration workers’ needs as the service leaves much to be desired even after a year from its inception,” it said.
The PN’s Gozo spokesperson Alex Borg said the schedule “doesn’t make any sense” and pledged to bring up this issue at an upcoming parliamentary committee meeting for Gozitan affairs.
The fast ferry first launched last year, originally with two separate operators – Virtu Ferries and Gozo Fast Ferry Ltd – but the services ended up merging.
Do you think the Gozo fast ferry should update its schedule?
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