Ministry going ahead with calls for new bus service

The Transport Ministry said today it would proceed with the publication of a public call for offers for the operation of a scheduled bus service and the bus owners’ association could participate under the same conditions as the other bidders.

The ministry denied claims by the association that the new bus service would cost it €45 million more in subsidies than at present., although it said it never hid the fact that some subsidies would be needed initially.

Malta, the ministry said, needed a bus service that was efficient, modern and dependable.

The models proposed by the association for the current bus owners to continue to operate the service through cooperatives had not been accepted by the European Commission.

The ministry said it left it up to the people to judge the efforts which the bus owners said they had made to improve the service. However the service being provided today did not deserve that definition.