History in the making: soon a century of bus service in Gozo

In just two years time it will be the centenary of the first buses entering service on Gozo Unlike Malta where a number of official sources of documents have provided information, it appears that such sources are rarer when it comes to Gozo

Many people in their 60s or older will recall that up until 1973, Malta's bus routes used to be different colours The same was true of Gozo but their various liveries only survived until around the early 1950s (date still uncertain).

What is not officially recorded anywhere is what colour each of the village buses was Here is what little is known -

• Up until around the early 1930s buses could be any colour they wished.

• By the mid-1930s the fixed route colours had been introduced.

• Buses garaged in Victoria-Rabat that were used on the services to Mgarr Harbour and north to Marsalforn were grey and white with a red band (the livery later adopted for all buses on the island).

• There were village buses allocated as follows - Gharb (1 bus), Nadur (2 buses), Qala (3 buses), Xaghra (1 bus), Xewkija (2 buses) and Zebbug (1 bus) It is these buses that carried the different colours. They were still current during WW2

Because these different colours disappeared around 1950, we are looking for anyone who is now at least 80 years old (the older the better) who may be able to answer the following simple questions(1) What village did you grow up in on Gozo? (2) What colour were the local buses serving your village? (3) What year were you born/how old are you? (So that we know roughly what period you recall)

Any information can be sent via e-mail to maltabusarchive@gmail com

Whilst I appreciate most readers will not fit into the above category, I hope that you will maybe know someone who does (either still living on Gozo or maybe in your local community if overseas) who you maybe able to ask these questions on mybehalf

Richard Stedal, (Malta Bus Archive project, National Archives of Malta).