The clampdown on Bolt drivers is already being felt and as predicted, the complaints about higher prices have started.

But we cannot have it both ways. Yes, prices will go up. We will also have to accept that there are less cabs around. I recently waited 15 minutes for a Bolt as the app kept telling me it is looking for a driver, when usually in my area I book a cab and it’s there before I even make it downstairs to my front door. This time I grew impatient and annoyed as I watched the cab inch its way slowly to my pick up point. First World problems right?

So OK, I am the first to admit that I have been spoiled by this convenience and the relatively cheap prices which have often spurred me to ‘take a Bolt’ and leave my car at home, avoiding the frustrations of navigating the chaotic traffic myself and the additional stress of finding an elusive parking space. But we also have to be honest with ourselves and realise that this luxury also came at a cost to the employees themselves. It is clear that there was a surplus of cab drivers circling popular areas waiting to pick up a fare, just as numerous Bolt food couriers were always lined up in front of takeaway shops waiting for an order.

Ironically, some people who were always complaining about “too many empty cabs causing traffic”, “too many foreigners” etc. are now likewise complaining about higher prices and longer waiting times. Surely they must realise that it was pretty obvious this would happen. We have to decide what our priorities are: exploited workers, cabs at our fingertips and low prices? Or controlling the mad influx of more and more workers coming here to work as drivers which has led to further problems associated with population growth?

Even if we set aside the immorality of being perfectly comfortable with cheap labour when it suits us (such as those who are openly racist against Indian nationals and all the food couriers rushing around on the road, but are the first to order Bolt food on a Saturday night being delivered by the very people they hate)…there is another issue which has affected the local labour market.

There have been numerous reports that the fleet company has been undercutting the minimum wage. Speaking to the press, food couriers claim that some of them work for 18 hours each day, only to earn €3 an hour. Recently, their weekend bonus (when the app is used the most) was also removed. In February, self-employed ‘Y’ plate drivers who have invested in their own cab, held a protest saying that low prices on cab platforms have undermined their livelihoods.

Finally, the Government has woken up to a situation which has been staring them in the face ever since the phenomenon of food deliveries and low-cost cabs became “a thing” after the pandemic. I guess the whole country was seeing what was unfolding in front of our eyes and the ensuing repercussions and yet, somehow, the relative Ministers must have missed it. As the demand for these convenient services grew, someone, somewhere jumped on the opportunity to become very rich by importing as much cheap labour as possible from a part of the world where €3 an hour is considered a windfall. (Of course no one tells them how expensive rent is and that they will have to share an apartment with 10 other people to survive).

The PM and his Cabinet have enabled this unsustainable state of affairs by not stopping it at its source, namely the recruitment agencies who are profiting from it; but just in case they haven’t looked at an atlas lately, here’s the reality. Malta – a microscopic island which barely shows up in some maps – cannot expect to provide jobs for unemployed people from an entire continent. And yet for the last few years it was like a sign had been put up at the airport – “Come on in! We have plenty of jobs waiting for you!”

And they all came, in floods, hoodwinked into thinking they were coming here for a better future, only to find they had been deceived by agencies which took their money and then left them to figure out the bureaucracy of getting a work permit (and a job) by themselves.

There are those who are (understandably) looking at the Government’s sudden action as a a cynical move to shut up those who are angry, simply to gain back lost votes. This week Robert Abela went on record as saying that “if our job market is indicating saturation, it means that workers who aren’t legitimate must leave the country….We are not saying we will kill the sector of food couriers or that Y-plates will be eliminated, as these are services that our country needs… But what we are saying is that having excessive workers in those two sectors will create a situation where the oversupply is detrimental to the country’s infrastructure.”

Well, hello, it’s about bloody time. This has been echoed by the man in the street and on social media for quite a while now. On the other hand, it’s better late than never and if he hadn’t done something about it, people would complain anyway. For those who claim it is just cheap talk and it won’t really be put into action, time will tell and the public will quickly call him out.

But if the end result is that we get a grip on the numbers flooding in and wages are levelled out so everyone is paid fairly for a day’s work …what’s the problem? If, as a result, Abela & Co will do well in the polls again then so be it. After all, listening to the legitimate concerns of Joe Public about bread and butter issues is crucial for any politician.

Now if only the Prime Minister could turn his attention to how relentless overdevelopment has ruined the country…

• UPDATE…since writing this I have noticed the rates have almost doubled. Stopping additional work permits does not justify a steep hike in prices either so Bolt and other cab companies need to get their act together. Keep prices reasonable and you will still make a profit because the demand for cabs is there.