Seven years ago, as Malta’s old yellow buses were approaching their end, Joey tat-Tberfil sat down with filmmakers to give a sombre interview about his dying craft.

Now, the man who used to paint the intricate typography and pin-stripes on the old buses is set to make the most unlikely of comebacks, with his tberfil fused into the design of proposed new buses.

“Joey is Malta’s main tberfil artist, a dying craft that implemented itself as part of our Maltese culture,” Mizzi Studio, the architecture firm behind the new bus designs, said while sharing the 2012 interview. “His tberfil can be seen all over our old Maltese buses and has now been fused onto our new design of The Malta Bus Reborn zero-emission electric fleet!”

A new film starring Joey tat-Tberfil, produced by Stargate Studios Malta, will be screened at Triton Square on 11th October at the official premiere of the new bus designs.

Mizzi Studios, run by Jonathan Mizzi, is proposing a new fleet of buses, which fuses several of the characteristics of the old yellow buses but with a futuristic redesign.

Besides the tberfil, the chrome bumper adopts the form of angel wings, often seen on traditional buses, to symbolise victory and flight, while an abstract Maltese cross would be carved into the rear of the bus as a symbol of national pride. Badges of a Maltese cross, along with horseshoe badges that were traditionally fixed to the buses to ward off evil spirits, are also included in this new design.

The fleet will be fully electric and emission-free, with state-of-the-art airconditioning and cooling systems, middle doors for efficient boarding and disembarking and low floors and ramps to ensure full accessibility for people with disabilities.

The designs have been endorsed by the Transport Ministry, Malta Public Transport, Heritage Malta, Arts Council Malta, Lovin Malta, Eden Leisure Group, Stargate Studios, Transport Malta, Mizzi Organisation and Gadgets.

What do you make of the proposed bus designs?

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