Bus driver suspended after ticketing machine theft

The Malta Transport Authority (ADT) has suspended a bus owner/driver from operating his bus pending the outcome of investigations into the reported theft of the ticketing machine from his bus, sources said.

The machine incorporates an electronic chip that records the takings from bus fares. It was found on Wednesday in a plastic bag by a commuter on another bus.

The sources said the ticketing machine was the third one reported stolen from buses over the past few weeks. The other two were still untraced, the sources said.

The sources explained that the electronic chip inside the ticketing machine records transactions, which are then downloaded at ADT depots in Valletta, Sliema and Qawra every four days or so. Bus operators then refund the money to the ADT. The sources said that some operators took longer to download the data and refund the money.

The ADT was in the process of modifying the ticketing machines so that bus owners would not be able to take longer than four days to do the downloading, the sources added.