“A few months ago the municipal administration positioned the poles for the bus timetables, after a few years that they were in the warehouses, and many must have thought: “better late than never, finally Marsala will also have a European transport service”. Naturally they also expected everything else: the shelters for waiting, to shelter from the sun or rain, from the wind or the cold, the signs for the stalls and the most important thing, a greater number of races, given the 21 new buses we had left, plus others in good condition. Are they all still working? And what happened to the two new electric buses that were supposed to arrive? Are they parked in the car park or has the mayor also caused us to lose this funding that we had left like so many others? Well, several months after installation, the poles are still not working and with the same writing: “system in the testing phase”, the shelters have not been allocated and the trips are fewer and fewer, with meaningless timetables. Yet Marsala, a territorial city with its 104 districts and popular neighbourhoods, cannot fail to have an efficient public transport service, which serves both those who live outside the historic centre, of which there are more and more, and those who live “in the centre” ”, to all commercial activities, to be reached, and to tourists, who also complain about the lack or absence of such a service. Furthermore, the new summer timetables have been published in recent days, nothing new under the sun except for the worse. Compared to the winter period, there are more trips to the seaside areas, as has been the case for decades or perhaps always, since there were beaches. The administration as usual is talking about it as if it had created a new additional and efficient service. Of course he doesn’t say that it further reduced the few trips there were, that it often takes more than an hour to get to the center from one district, as well as the return trip, that the timetables are incompatible for those who use the service to go at work. Not to mention the trips back home, with which in the morning you have to wait 4-5 hours if not more and in the afternoon the last trip except for the beaches leaves from Piazza del Popolo at 4.45pm. Who are these times for? Certainly not for users, be they Marsala residents or tourists, as demonstrated by the fact that the buses always travel empty. And if some rides are delayed or cancelled, you can console yourself by always looking at the same writing on the sign under the sun: “system under TEST”. Naturally there is no free shuttle to the centre, but this was abolished by Mayor Grillo immediately after his inauguration, perhaps thinking of being disrespectful to the previous administration, not understanding the damage he had done to the city. On holidays the few services that operate are only for the beaches on the southern side, the Stagnone, the tourist activities and the beaches on the north side are all forgotten. The mayor continues to justify the reduction in trips due to the lack of drivers, forgetting that he has been managing the city for almost 4 years and if he had wanted he could have found a solution. How can an administration be happy with a service that is not working either in summer or winter and which is wasting around 7/8 million of public money, between stopped buses, non-functioning poles, unallocated shelters and meaningless timetables ? Either it is an inability to administer or a disinterest towards the people of Marsala and tourists, as with everything else. Maybe one or the other. An efficient transport service would make the city more lively and at the same time less chaotic and less polluted, with safer roads and fewer accidents. It would allow considerable savings for those who are forced to move from the districts and neighborhoods to the city center for work or services and would encourage many to frequent the center even just to admire the shop windows and perhaps after making some purchases, visit the museums. , bookshops, archaeological sites and everything beautiful that Marsala offers, even taking a walk with friends in the streets of the centre. The public transport service is essential for the life of every city, Marsala in particular, only the mayor Grillo and his councilors do not have it and do not want to understand it”.
Dr. Alberto Di Girolamo
