The Public Transport Association believes smaller buses would be more suitable for Malta than the vehicles currently in use, its president Victor Spiteri said.
When contacted, Mr Spiteri said the recently-introduced 11-metre super low floor buses - of which there are more than 140 on the road - were too big for village centres, leading to manoeuvring difficulties.
The association also said it was surprised the government was looking into the possibility of introducing 18-metre long articulated buses - known as bendy buses.
Mr Spiteri said this was not in line with what the association had been discussing with the transport authorities. In fact, he added, recent discussions had pointed towards the possibility of going for smaller buses to operate in village and town centres.
Moreover, he said, many of the bigger buses were half empty on certain trips. He maintained that improving the service did not mean bigger buses, but more frequent trips.
"They (the bendy buses) would be very expensive and I do not think we will be able to fill them," he said.
The bendy buses, which cost about Lm100,000, are fitted with an extra set of wheels and a joint located slightly behind the middle of the bus so they can carry up to 139 passengers; two-and-a-half times the capacity of a normal bus.
A spokesman for the Roads Ministry said the bendy buses would be used on two routes centred around the greater harbour area to serve as a high-volume and high-frequency service to complement the other public transport services.
"The intention is to provide a service that is fast and frequent," he said, adding that the ultimate aim was to make public transport as efficient as private transport.
Mr Spiteri said that even if the proposed buses were used solely on main roads, one had to factor in the amount of traffic during rush hour, which would impinge on the service's efficiency. "Unless we have a lot of bus lanes, there is no use for big buses," he said.
When contacted, Maria Attard, transport strategy manager within the Malta Transport Authority (ADT), said the Bus Rapid Transport study, carried out by British company Halcrow Group through EU funds, identified the need for an upgrade of the public transport system to make it faster and more efficient. She also pointed out that better buses might attract more people to use public transport, adding that the authority was also looking into other options.
Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett said last week he had been asked by Cabinet to devise a bus replacement programme to replace the old buses with more environmental-friendly vehicles.
Just over 140 out of the 508 route buses were replaced between 2000 and 2005.
Last year, the EU approved a directive that could force Malta to liberalise its public transport system. The ministry spokesman said the radical reform of the public transport system being discussed by the ministry, the ADT and the Public Transport Association would have to take the parameters imposed by these EU regulations into account.