“I fell in love with our colourful Art Deco buses as a child. They were so friendly, almost like Pixar Cars characters with their anthropomorphic features like their cute hooded headlamp eyes, split windscreens that gave them a puppy-dog eyes expression and large smiling chrome bumpers.
To lose them was a devastating blow to Malta’s identity as they truly were one of our country’s greatest icons. Since 2012, my studio has been developing a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly bus that pays homage to its heritage and aims to fill the large cultural gap that was left behind. I hope the new fleet will enable us as a nation to move forward whilst staying true to ourselves, and make us proud to be Maltese.”
The studio aims to improve the environmental efficiency of Malta’s current diesel fleet whilst simultaneously bringing back the lost character of the traditional buses. The proposal is for a fully electric, emission-free fleet that is in line with the EU’s long-term strategy for a climate-neutral future.
The strongest common characteristics of the traditional fleet have been transposed onto a modern chassis, including an over-sized chrome grill, round hooded headlights and a visor overhanging the windscreen. The studio hopes that these features will make public transport a more appealing option.
Description of project by Mizzi Studio
The chrome bumper of Mizzi Studio’s bus adopts the form of the angel wing imagery often seen on traditional buses to symbolise victory and flight, whilst at the rear, a dual set of chrome wings provides cooling for the motor.
These rear wings, in combination with the curving rear glass, form the negative space around an abstract Maltese cross, reinforcing a sense of national pride. Badges of a Maltese cross, along with horseshoe badges that were traditionally fixed to the buses to ward off evil spirits, can also be found on the new design.
Over the years the traditional buses’ livery was transformed by local body shops, from a route-led multicoloured system to a uniform fleet painted yellow with an orange stripe in Malta and grey with a red stripe in Gozo. Mizzi Studio has opted to revert to the multi-coloured system due to the nostalgic value that this holds.
One of the most captivating details of the traditional buses was the hand-painted line patterns and lettering (tberfil), used to articulate features and emblazon the buses with slogans such as forever young. Tberfil has been reimagined by the studio in digital form so that the drivers are able to customise each bus with text and imagery using LED technology, paying homage to the craftsmanship and pride associated with the traditional buses.
The new fleet would also have a full vision panel at the front, state of the art air conditioning and cooling systems, middle doors for efficient boarding and disembarking and low floors and ramps for disabled access.
A free public exhibition, Malta Bus Reborn, will be held July – September 2019 at the parliament building in Valletta, at the gateway to the city – just a stone’s throw from the bus terminus. The exhibition will detail the steps in Mizzi Studio’s design process, including the research and development over a 7- year period that has informed the vehicle's technical and aesthetic features.
Highlights of the exhibition will include a 1:6 scale model of the proposed bus, hand-built by expert model-making company 2D3D, and a five-minute film produced by Stargate Studios, picturing the new bus on routes through some of the islands’ most picturesque locations.
