Transport Federation warns of new strike if agreement is not respected

The Transport Federation has warned the Transport Minister to respect what was agreed at the end of the recent transport strike, unless he wanted to see public transport paralysed again.

It made its warning in a reaction to the consultation document issued on Saturday on a reform of the taxi service.

The federation noted that the ministry’s vision was to see the current 200 taxi permits increased to 700, while also increasing the number of electric taxi cabs.

“The ministry clearly has not studied what the market can support’” the federation said.

It said that the taxis sector was not made up only of the 200 white taxis, but also included some 2,000 taxi services, including black and grey taxis, red and white vans. One could see at the airport that for every taxi another five operators carried passengers. Therefore, the people had a choice of vehicle and tariff.

What the ministry had failed to mention, the federation said, was that during winter, there was not even enough business for the 200 white taxis.

The minister (Dr Austin Gatt) expected that the Maltese should start using white taxis, the federation observed. Yet, had he been at City Gate after 10 p.m. last Saturday, during notte bianca, he could hear the people complain about the special bus fare of €1.16. So how could they be expected to pay €5 or €10 to take a taxi to work?

The federation recalled that when the transport strike ended, it was a agreed that the parties concerned would conduct a study of the market and if it was shown that the market could support further permits to meet demand, the outcome would be discussed with the sector involved.

It also pointed out that despite the liberalisation of the hearses sector, consumers were not seeing lower prices.

“The federation warns the minister that if he does not wish to see public transport paralysed again, he should respect what was agreed” the federation warned.