Public transport agreement

I refer to the letter Improved Bus Service? (October 12) on the subject of the recent agreement reached between the Malta Transport Authority and the Public Transport Association.

The correspondent lists a number of undesirable activities he seems to have observed in a minority of bus drivers which, unfortunately, in his own words, "bring shame on the majority of decent drivers who provide an excellent and economic service to the general public..."

The issue of driver discipline and behaviour did, in fact, feature prominently in the recent negotiations held between the government and the bus owners in the run-up to the signing of the agreement. It must be said that it was very encouraging to see genuine willingness being displayed, on the part of the ATP, to bring about a new quality of service that will attract travellers back to the buses.

As has already been well reported in the media, the agreement itself is performance based - that is, the disbursement of subsidy payments are being linked to each tangible improvement being registered in the service being provided. Moreover, in the last two years, the ADT has radically upgraded the legal regulatory framework for public transport operation, clearly establishing the rules of operation, the offences and the penalties for non-compliance with the law. Therefore, in view of the careful planning that has gone into the terms of the agreement and the new legal framework for public transport operation, the ADT is optimistic that there will be notable improvement in the behaviour of certain bus drivers and in driver compliance with rules and regulations relating to smoking, playing music and their appearance.

Other important issues are raised in the letter relating to customer care, bus dispatching and the display of route numbers on the rear of vehicles. Although it is fair to say that the present agreement does not directly cover these aspects in the bus service reform for 2004-2005 it does, on the other hand, aim to foster more of a partnership relationship between ADT and the ATP. To this end, there has been ongoing collaboration between the two entities in the planning of a public transport strategy for the medium term, such as in the drafting of a new code of conduct for drivers and assessing the feasibility of introducing new automatic vehicle location system technology to track buses in order help overcome some of the problems mentioned relating to unauthorised route diversion and timekeeping in the dispatching of buses.

On the final point raised in the letter regarding the withdrawal of licences, the legal provisions are already in place that empower the ADT to withdraw a driver's tag (which all public transport drivers must be in possession of by law) if found guilty of gross misconduct or a serious criminal offence. The ADT has in the past applied and will continue to apply a policy of zero tolerance towards any public transport driver found guilty by a criminal court of a serious offence.