Bus owners lay down four conditions

The dispute between bus owners and the government appeared to be heading for the long haul last night after the owners laid down four conditions for lifting their industrial action but the transport minister flatly refused to concede any ground.

The Public Transport Association, which represents the owners, has directed bus drivers to charge elderly people normal bus fares instead of the discounted ones laid down by law.

The directive is set to remain in place for now after an association committee meeting last night decided it would not withdraw it until its conditions are met.

Spelling out the conditions, association president Victor Spiteri said the Malta Transport Authority would first have to withdraw its letter rejecting all the association's requests concerning a number of issues.

Secondly, the authority would have to withdraw its "threat" to reduce the number of licences issued to buses.

Mr Spiteri also referred to a pre-election promise which he claimed Finance Minister John Dalli had made, which was to extend the government subsidy for the purchase of 147 new buses to a further 30 bus owners.

And lastly, the association wants a security system to be introduced for bus tickets before the new ticketing machines are introduced, in order to prevent the possibility of fraud.

Mr Spiteri said that the association would be prepared to resume talks with the authorities only if these conditions were met.

Contacted last night, Transport Minister Censu Galea was having none of it. "No way" was his reaction on hearing of the first condition, and as to the rest he said he couldn't accept the association laying down any conditions before going round the table.

"I stick to the position I took yesterday. For us to start talking, the association must first withdraw its action and bus ticketing machines have to be introduced," he said.

In their dispute, bus owners also want a higher annual operational subsidy.

Meanwhile, bus drivers yesterday continued to follow the association directive to charge normal fares to the elderly. Some 83 drivers were booked in the morning, after 80 were booked on Wednesday.

Malta Transport Authority chairman Charles Demicoli yesterday denied that jobs would be lost if fewer licences were issued for buses, as the authority has suggested.

The authority has proposed having just 300 buses instead of the current 500, which work on a day-on, day-off basis.

He added: "The number of commuters has been dropping by one million per year over the past five years. If the service remains as it is, commuters, and revenue, will continue to be lost. Should the government keep raising its subsidy when the number of commuters is declining?"

If there are only around 300 buses, they would have the same income as they had now and their expenses would go down dramatically, Mr Demicoli said.

If they were capable of offering a better service, the number of commuters would increase and so would income, he argued.

Mr Galea has sent a letter to local councils informing them the government intended to radically change the public transport system and inviting them to send their suggestions about how transport in their locality can be improved.

Mr Galea told councils "not to limit suggestions to the existing service and not to bother proposing things that had not been accepted in the past".

The information given by local councils will be used to draw up routes to service each particular area. The frequency of the trips would also have to be determined following such an exercise.

The suggestions should be sent in by July 21 at the latest.

Mr Galea said the government was adamant to go ahead with the reform in public transport.