Thursday, 9th July 2009 - 20:32CET

ADT apologizes for suspending SMS service, vehicles still being emissions tested

The Transport Authority (ADT) this evening apologised for having suspending the SMS emissions reporting system and said that once a new system for the processing of the reports was in place, all those vehicles reported in the past few months would be called in for testing.

The Auditor-General revealed in a report to Parliament earlier this week that no vehicles reported by SMS were called in for emissions testing this year.

"Prior to the audit and the eventual publication of the National Audit Office (NAO) report two years down the line, the ADT had already been reviewing the filtering process of the SMS reporting scheme and was working on the creation of an automated filtering system," the Authority said.

"The initiative to effectively review, revamp and automate the manual and time-consuming SMS filtering process, which led to the temporary suspension of the SMS-generated emissions tests had, in fact, been brought to the attention of the NAO throughout discussions held between the two parties during the audit. This iniative was however opportunely not mentioned in the NAO report.

"While the ADT apologises for having had to temporarily suspend the SMS-generated emissions tests, it feels obliged to point out that, for the duration of the suspension of the SMS-generated emissions tests, vehicular emission testing was still and is still being carried out through VRT testing, road-side and random checks on private, passenger-carrying and goods-carrying vehicles (including public transport buses, coaches, trucks, heavy vehicles)."

The ADT said the road-side inspections on coaches and buses yielded the following results:

Road-side inspections
Year	Total	Passed	Failed
2005	282	112	170
2006	163	71	92
2007	277	99	178
2008	374	188	186
May-09	212	95	117

The ADT said that once the new automated system was in place, it would be calling-up for emissions-testing all those vehicles for which three or more SMS reports were received over the past months.

It urged the general public to continue sending reports on 50611899.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Saturday, November 21, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

D Vella (on 10/7/09)

@Mark Galea Often don't agree with Galea.L,but he/she is excercising their right to free comment.To suggest that one must always be against,or for, simply because their party are in or not in Government is ridiculous, and,if I may so, a perfect example of the warped minds that are so nurtured by cheap politics in this Country.

M Grima (on 10/7/09)

I don't believe those pass rates.I very much doubt that people would waste time and effort and money to make false reports.

Lies on top of lies on top of lies. Let's see you get your finger out ADT. If you really want to improve pollution you can do it and it needn't take more than a month of solid bookings with well publicised follow ups. We need proof. Let the buses and heavy vehicles go on strike if need be.They'll soon buckle down. Till then I will treat you with the same contempt you have treated us.

C Leroux (on 10/7/09)

And there I was spending money on SMSs about vehicles belching fumes and always wondering why the system was not resulting in lower incidence on our roads over time.

Now I know the reason thanks to NAO and no lame 'sorry' is going to get me to send another SMS again. I have just deleted the number from my mobile. As far as I'm concerned, ADT has singlehandedly managed to bury what could have been a positive initiative for our health and the environment.

Does ADT ever get it right? And then it calls itself an authority...more like a pathetic excuse for one.

Mark Galea (on 10/7/09)

@Galea. L
Agree with you ... but aren't you supposed to be on the bus drivers side, since they are workers? You should be coherent and always write against the government.

Andrew Gatt (on 10/7/09)

ADT - Sorry, have reached the point that whenever you say anything, make statements, promise the earth, come up with all sorts of excuses................I SIMPLY DON'T BELIEVE A WORD YOU SAY.

Urgent restructuring, restaffing and sacking are long overdue. From top to bottom.

m busuttil (on 10/7/09)

To all
I never doubted from day one, that this scheme would be just another comic merry-go-round. ADT acts as if in a slumber with regards to motorists' rights, but very efficient when it comes to fines.
BTW Part I - could someone from ADT or Health & Safety go to Victory Street in Qormi, right in front of the Policlinic. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT PART OF PAVEMENT JUTTING STRAIGHT OUT INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD?
BTW Part II - "Embillishment" works near Dragonara are still going on at a snail's pace, smack in the middle of the tourist season. These works are just another excuse for eliminating a stretch of parking to be replaced by a senseless pavement!!!!

Albert Bezzina (on 10/7/09)

"The ADT had already been reviewing the filtering process of the SMS reporting scheme and was working on the creation of an automated filtering system" - automated to filter out trucks and heavy vehicles which belong to the usual immune organizations and companies. 10% of commercial vehicles were reported which are mostly diesel. That's at least 4000 vehicles using on average 5 times as much fuel as passenger cars or equivalent to 20000 faulty passenger cars. At the same time 4% of private vehicles - that's around 10000 passenger cars. The major cause of poor air quality from road transport is clearly commercial vehicles. The tax burden on road transport is clearly on passenger cars several times over. Polluter pays is just a load of hot air.

J.Brownie (on 10/7/09)

Please don't feed us any more crap on traffic emissions - ADT didn't fail on this issue , it has simply never tried to do anything serious, but it is more important the ADT is ' perceived to be doing something' - not so important that it actually does anything , PR and other spin mechanisms will take of that - YOU CAN'T FOOL PEOPLE ON THE STREETS - they have noses to smell, lungs to breath and eyes to see.

Galea. L (on 10/7/09)

During the bus strike the air was cleaner and clearer.
You could smell it and you could see it
No further comments are necessary.

M Grech (on 10/7/09)

Accountability anyone? Do these people really believe that just a halfhearted sorry should suffice? When do heads roll in this country? We are being taken on a long ride and no one seems to bother!

Joe Morana (on 10/7/09)

Apologies from ADT not accepted. ADT Please stop insulting our intelligence .
People want really effective actions ( effective survelience and enforecement) to stop polluting vehichles and not empty talk and 'smokescreens' like the ADT's SMS Emissions Alert scheme .
ADT just do your job properly withproper surveilance and enforcement . That is way you are being paid from public funds.

J Farrugia (on 10/7/09)

ma tistax issolvi l-ebda problema sakemm il-bniedem jibqa bniedem. Is-sistema li wiehed jirraporta duhhan eccessiv kienet idea tajba IMMA li ma kienetx qed tigi segwita minn MIN dahhal din is-sistema. L-ewwel kull rapport bl-SMS kien irid jigi verifikat minn tlieta. It-tieni ghall-ewwel is-servizz kien b;xejn u ftit wara l-ADT dahhlet charge talli taghmel id-dover tieghek ta' cittadin onest. U tal-ahhar li enforcement (ammiettietha hi stess) ma kienx qed isir. Se tirrifondi l-flus li nfaqna biex naghmlu d-dover taghna ta' cittadini u nirraportaw ksur tal-ligi u li l-ADT tiehu passi kif inhu obbligu taghha? Illum il-bniedem huwa xettiku hafna ghal kull proposta anke tajba, li kull awtorita' tohrog biha u qabel ma verament naraw INFURZAR SEW, jigifieri ma narawx iktar vetturi tal-linja fit-toroq taghna jew vetturi privati li jhallu warajhom dahna papali, m'hux ser igawdu l-fiducja taghna l-Maltin.

D Vella (on 10/7/09)

2005 Less than one a day tested
2006 Less than half a car per day tested.
2007 Less than two thirds a car per day tested.
2008 Slightly over one car a day tested.

Between 2006 and 2008 I was sending an average of two sms's a day.
In 2008/9 I read that less than 10% of cars reported were being called in.I stopped sending sms's. This was a blatant lie it now turns out.

What proof do we have that you will now carry out these inspections starting with buses and heavy vehicles?. Like every other public entity on this Island,any statement made by them is taken with more than a pinch of salt

T Abela (on 10/7/09)

Isa hej x'efficenzja! 2008 (best year) - 374 (260 working days) - less than 2 vehicles per day. the previous years have an even worse record with 1 vehicle per day! What a joke!

Joseph Sammut (on 10/7/09)

Did anyone even come across a police patrol car driving behind a bus belching black smoke and nothing happens???!!!!!!! Myself quite a few times: I wouldn't know if I should laugh or CRY. All we get from everybody is lip service and the middle finger.

Dr Savior Tortell Pisani (on 10/7/09)

ADT = l-Awtorita tad-Duhhan u t-Trasport

Kemm nixtieq li f'dan il-pajjiz naqbdu problema u nsolvuwha mil-bidu sa l-ahhar...
Darba ghal-dejjem u minghajr tlaqlieq fil-vojt!

Emmnuni, ghajjejt nara paprati nofs kedda!

Tony Camilleri (on 10/7/09)

This business of reporting by the public of vehicles emitting fumes is just another "farce" put in place by the authorities to give the impression that something is being done about pollution. If the authorities are really serious all they have to do is to forget the reporting by sms by the public and call in all the heavy vehicles and construction related trucksand public transport buses and test them. I can assure everyone that pollution will be cut by more than 50 per cent.

George Debono (on 10/7/09)

@ ADT ..............feels obliged to point out that.......vehicular emission testing was still and is still being carried out through VRT testing, road-side and random checks on private, passenger-carrying and goods-carrying vehicles (including public transport buses, coaches, trucks, heavy vehicles)."

ADT PULL THE OTHER LEG !
THIS IS ABSOLUTE RUBBISH.
HOW CAN THIS BE TRUE IF BUSES (AND HEAVY TRANSPORT, PRIVATE COACHES etc ) STILL EMIT SMOKE.

Also it s preposterous that a bus which emits dense smoke can drive past a traffic warden (or police officer) and they simply look the other way. Of course this is because wardens are there to make money from motorists,

G

Mr. K Borg (on 10/7/09)

I almost crashed once, as I was SMS to adt all the vehicles with high emissions. All in vain, don't drive and sms because adt don't give a damn anyway

Jean Paul Galea (on 10/7/09)

Instead of asking people to send sms the adt should stay in floriana area ie just two min away from office and check the buses going to and from Valletta. In Malta at the moment the major polluters are the buses and the factory. Nowadays most of the old vehicles have been replaced by sec hand Japanese which produce relative less pollution after all. Evidence of Bus emission can be seen every time a bus route is changed. Check places like mosta where the walls turned black in the narrow roads since bus changed route. Another example was the bus strike. For the first time you could breathe in floriana and you could even hear the birds sing. Apart from fumes the buses are major noise polluters.

paul mizzi (on 9/7/09)

ADT should apologise mainly for not informing the public that the service was being suspended!
Now the chance for all the scrappy cars to go around safely without getting reported!! :) It will be ages till a new sms filtering system will be ready! Even though this should have been compatible as from day one!

Ronnie Gauci (on 9/7/09)

Not only this system must be put in place again as soon as possible but promotion must start again as everybody forgot about it. I only know the number because it's saved on my mobile phone.

Audrey Callus (on 9/7/09)

@Davina Sullivan...same here...I even memorized the number in my mobile...what a waste of time and money....

MSciberras (on 9/7/09)

All it takes is a dozen local wardens given the sole task of checking emissions and let loose on Malta's roads for a fortnight. Lets stop being taken for a ride and above all lets not be impressed by this apology. And this is just what the public knows. What about the infamous Y plates? A few years ago Malta was full of private cars that had Y plates. This means that no reg tax was paid because they were on the books of some car leasing or hire firm, ostensibly to be used only for commercial purposes. The screws were tightened some time ago but you can still more than the ocassional Merc or BM that is clearly being used for private purposes. I am certain that the ADT never collected the interest on the reg tax that was paid 5 or 8 years late - thats an interest free loan of €23000 on a Merc C class for example. I have my doubts even if the reg tax was collected in its entirety or at all as by then the cars were second hand. Come on! Wake up Malta!

B Sant (on 9/7/09)

If adt is really serious it should hire services of warden services to spot vehicles with high emissions and not rely on the general public. Even works department higher wardens when they carry out some works on some central srip or roundabout. These wardens are generally there to keep the hardworkers good company and remove their solitude during their two hour daily work. So why not ADT makes better use of these blessed wardens

n l attard (on 9/7/09)

ADT must be under the impression that the Maltese are bunch of idiots, I, for one, used to send SMS's repeatedly, but unfortunately, buses and trucks that emit cancerous smoke could still be seen on the roads. I am now sure the no authority will ever find ways and means to restrain these demigods and find the courage to destroy the buses fleet especially.
What Malta needs is a completely new buses fleet that consists only of 22-seater vehicles. Bigger than that are not ideal for our roads. As for SMS's to ADT, I will send them 'kazzola'.

davina sullivan (on 9/7/09)

If the papers hadn't reported this we wouldn't have known. U jiena il-belha nibghat sms s!

Paul Barrett (on 9/7/09)

Totals tested = less than 2 vehicles a day on a yearly average. The totals shown should be at least monthly totals and vehicles should be immediately taken off the road, fixed and apart from the to/from journey to the repair shop and testing centre, not allowed back into use until they pass the test.
Good rules, no or weak enforcement.

D Vella (on 9/7/09)

What about the buses...surely you don't need reports on those?. I doubt if there's more than ten that do not fill our lungs with disease ridden dirt everytime we are stuck behind one when driving or just passing along a narrow road.

When will you be asking those buses in for inspection?

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ADT apologizes for suspending SMS service, vehicles still being emissions tested

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