Introduction

Looking Back at 2020 with optimism for the future

Kevin Farrugia

Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer

For Transport Malta, 2020 has been a year like no other. As the Authority celebrated its 10th Anniversary since its inception, we also had to face one of the deadliest of viruses that came to our shores as it spread across the globe.

This brought to the Authority new challenges never experienced before, since transport operations dwindled across all transport modes. This resulted in loss of revenues to nearly all transport operators and third‑party stakeholders, particularly passenger transport. Dwindling numbers in cruise passengers and flight passenger arrivals, in turn, also negatively affected land transport passenger services and respective operators.

From trying to keep up with the unprecedented economic activity that we got accustomed to in the last few years of the pre‑pandemic age and which at times put pressure on the authority especially from a human resources perspective, in 2020 this all changed and during the first few months of the year, members of our staff were called in to give a helping hand to the rest of the front liners battling the COVID‑19 pandemic. This is work which we are still carrying out today as the pandemic rages on.

In spite of this, Transport Malta continued with its day‑to‑day operations like many other public institutions and private companies. The Authority started to change its modus operandi in the way it operates while simultaneously consolidating our basic obligations towards the General Public.

This included assigning members of our staff who could work from home by resorting to teleworking and thus restricting the need to travel on the one hand while, on the other, taking the opportunity to continue modernising the Authority from the ground up and make it even better to face the post‑pandemic years.

Additional measures also include putting in place a new IT system, upping our investment in a comprehensive GIS system to streamline data and information acquisition, dissemination of the latter in real time, as well as purchasing new equipment and other resources, thus bolstering our regulatory functions, and last but not least, investing in the re‑training of our staff across all directorates.

Throughout 2020, we continued to increase our presence, both on our roads and in our waters, making such presence greatly felt with the General Public, particularly with our newly set up Rapid Intervention Unit and assisting our traditional Traffic Police in the policing of our roads and waters, in accordance with both the enforcement of regulations as well as assisting road users and contributing to road and sea safety.

This investment will continue throughout most of 2021, as we await the delivery of additional assets to bolster our operations. This is in addition to the massive investments taking place in the modernisation of our properties and buildings from where we operate, to provide our increasing members of staff with state‑of‑the art resources and improved working conditions, as the Authority is becoming one of the largest employers within the wider public sector. The Authority is looking forward to continuing with its current pace in 2021 and beyond, to make itself more relevant to road users and the general public and to make our urban environment safer.