Matthew Xuereb
ADT ignored 70,000 emissions reports since beginning of last year
The Malta Transport Authority has ignored more than 70,500 SMSs since the beginning of 2008, from people with enough civic sense to report polluting cars.
Figures seen by The Times show that nearly 207,000 SMSs were received since the Emissions Alert service was launched by the ADT in 2005.
Ironically, the number of messages peaked right when the authority decided to suspend testing the reported cars to update the system it used to filter the SMSs.
The authority last week admitted it had not tested any cars reported by SMS in 2008 and 2009, saying it was working on a new automated system to filter the information because the manual method they had employed before that was too time consuming.
The transport watchdog was reacting to a damning report, tabled in Parliament by the Auditor General, which revealed that the ADT had ignored text messages sent in by citizens reporting vehicles belching excessive amounts of exhaust.
Vehicle emissions are a major source of air pollution, which impacts negatively on public health and the environment. Their effects are further aggravated by Malta's high vehicle density and the fact that the average age of cars is much higher than the EU's.
According to the Auditor General's report, the public reported a whopping 30 per cent of the public transport vehicles, 10 per cent of commercial vehicles and four per cent of private vehicles.
Curiously, when asked for this breakdown, the ADT said it did not have a breakdown of how many of the SMSs received involved buses, how many involved trucks and how many were about private vehicles.
In just five months in 2005 (the campaign was launched in August), the authority received 44,058 reports.
In 2006 and 2007, it received 51,067 and 41,198 respectively. That went up to a record of 53,970 in 2008.
In the first six months this year, it received 16,603 reports from people who did not know that the cars they were reporting were not being summoned for testing. But the figures suggest the messaging was already on the wane.
While apologising for temporarily suspending tests on reported vehicles, the ADT has said that emissions tests were still carried out by VRT stations, by road-side inspections and by random checks on private passenger-carrying and goods-carrying vehicles, including public transport buses, coaches, trucks and other heavy vehicles.
The ADT said that once the new system was in place, it would call up for emission testing those vehicles reported by three or more SMS messages over the past months.
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23 Comments
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Adrian Cachia
Jul 14th 2009, 20:36
I guess they tried to hide this under the carpet. At least the Auditor General Office did it's job. The Transport Authority needs a complete shuffle. Buses, Drivers, Practices everything has to change.....
Dr Mary Muscat
Jul 14th 2009, 17:05
Have cancelled ADT's emission alert number from my mobile directory ages ago, when it was becoming clear that the whole campaign was a sham. Don't bother to start a new campaign dear ADT, work on earning your trust back.
Michael Porter
Jul 14th 2009, 16:57
Imsieken ahna li noqoghodu nhabblu rasna u nibaghtu l-sms'slill-ADT ghal-ambjent ahjar! Xoghlna lest issa. Araw kif se tigbru giehkhom ADT! Ilkom bizzejjed tghadduna biz-zmien b'kull ma taghmlu.
T Abela
Jul 14th 2009, 16:44
Disgusting.
Shame on who is responsible! Shame on the minister for not having the decency to comment on this one and for not firing those responsible!
I already asked Times of Malta to continue pushing on this one till someone has the decency to answer for this huge fiasco. I may be mistaken but haven't heard much from the other media. Obviously i do not expect the PN media to report this but i expect much more from the others!
70,000 @ €0.05c - €3,500 stolen by ADT.
Ray Mangion
Jul 14th 2009, 16:44
A very sad story, but hey, as long as some people in management are getting good money for doing nothing to improve the system and also to gain some respect, who cares about job satisfaction? I don`t think it is in their dictionary. Pompous people are always put in these positions, not because of experience but because they know someone.
Joe Morana
Jul 14th 2009, 16:09
Mismanaged, totally and chaotically disorgnised, incompetent, .....etc. Resignations and heads rolling should be the order of the day!
Patrick Sciberras
Jul 14th 2009, 15:46
It would be interesting to know the remuneration (probably very good) these people get for taking the nation for a ride.
Nigel Lawrence
Jul 14th 2009, 15:08
Typical non-performance from a GoniPN entity, pretty much like all the others.
P.Cassar
Jul 14th 2009, 14:19
Another case of TAKING PEOPLE FOR A RIDE.
CEO of ADT should tender his resignation immediately. We are paying for his wages and he insults us like that. The Minister and even the PM will be held accountable if this does not happen.
Charles Micallef
Jul 14th 2009, 13:53
The beauty is that when ADT wants to enforce a particular law they can be very efficient!
My next door neighbour is quadriplegic has all the necessary documentation, he is driven around in his specially adapted van by his wife and when he retired to Malta he went to the council offices to request a reserved parking bay to which the council after seeing him in person and obtained the relevant documentation obliged within days.
Some eighteen months later someone from ADT called and painted over the yellow lines and words and removed the sign as they claimed that it was illegal, the result of which and because of the demand there is for parking bays in the area, his wife has to park at Ta Fra Ben and push him the half a mile to their home.
They have spoken both to the Mayor who works for ADT and to various people at ADT some 10 weeks since and they are still waiting to hear from them.
Can ADT be more cruel to a severely disabled person?
THEY CAN BE VERY EFFICIENT WHEN THEY WANT TO!
ADT IS NOTHING MORE THAN A MICKY MOUSE ORGINISATION
Joe Azzopardi
Jul 14th 2009, 12:57
The least that ADT could have done is to sms back to members of the public who reported that the service was suspended. I hope some one will be made accountable and shoulder the responsibility of all this. The number of reports indicates how important the public perceives the issue to be. Ironically this was probably the singe initiative by the ADT to have any degree of success as the rest of its work is pitiable indeed. Now it will be very hard for ADT to regain the confidence of the public. What a waist of public funds and resources.
Chris Finch
Jul 14th 2009, 12:35
Again, yet another scandal from this government and again no comment or action from arrogantziPN.
If there was a fancy dress party, Gonzi and Gatt would win the award for the best Ostrich impressions. Can they not see what is going on around them, and not just this department, MEPA, Tax, Martime, Law Enforcement, Tourism - in every ministry there is a scandal breaking almost daily.
What does it take for someone to do the decent thing in this country and step aside so a more competent (and no I am not biased to either side of the political spectrum, I just see incompetence everywhere) person can take over.
The ADT said that once the new system was in place (I see they don't give us a time frame though), it would call up for emission testing those vehicles reported by three or more SMS messages over the past months. - I can tell you now how many that figure will be, ZERO as nobody will be stupid enough to ever use this service again.
v.pulis
Jul 14th 2009, 12:24
This goes to show that the honest citizen is unprotected against injustice. Another case in point is the illegal parking tickets issued to drivers who parked in no parking places invented by some local councils. Now the court is deliberating whether these drivers should be refunded their money. It should be obvious that since these fines were illegal the (stolen) money should be refunded and No ifs and buts.
Reuben Sciberras
Jul 14th 2009, 12:19
Yesterday I was forced to use public transport and it's really a shame. Apart from waiting 30 mins in the sun @ Valletta Terminus for Bus no 35, (from 1145 till 1215) with no adequate shelter, tens of buses belched out excessive fumes. A dozen of old people present had to walk to the nearby hotel to breath properly.Shameful.
J.Brownie
Jul 14th 2009, 12:03
What a great shame, . million times over !
ADT can never fathom the extent of distrust it also managed to generate in all public authorities, since by nature people tend to generlise . This is most unfair as no other public authority has ever been found so much disrespectful to a cooperating public.
I am very concerned that some people now seem no longer willing to care and hence risk becoming complacent to such a very serious health threat .
May we all remember that heavy car emissions, undoubtly contain cancer-causing chemicals and there is strong scientific evidence that traffic emission shorten human life by thousand of years.
People expect some heads to roll and a system that works effectively .
Mark Anthony Vella
Jul 14th 2009, 11:23
So after I have spent all that money on smses in vain, who will give me a refund? Pfffftttt!!!!! This country will never heal from the corrupt, unmanaged, untrustable Goverement authorities!!!!!! I'm not spending another sms in vain!!!!!! We live in a state were the Maltese citizens cannot trust any authority!!!!!
Collen Isherwood
Jul 14th 2009, 11:15
Not only the ADT is ignoring the public, I have sent queries to MEPA, the Government Lands department, and the Consumer council, and have actually followed up with the MEPA requesting feed back, since April 5th 2009, and thus to date nothing, from the Lands department, a query back as to where the query was for, that after including a map supplied by them, and the Consumer...................maybe before the next election I may get lucky
Andrew Gatt
Jul 14th 2009, 11:11
This department is always in the news - and always for the wrong reasons. Bribery, scandal, inefficiency, the state of our roads, public transport,..........an endless litany of screwups.
This latest bit of news is the cherry on the cake! Remember the hype and publicity and ad campaigns to get the public to do the ADT's work and identify polluting vehicles? Our reward for the time and expense was 70,000 slaps in the face - 1 for every SMS that was ignored.
ADT needs to be sorted out from top to bottom. And quickly.
albert leone ganado
Jul 14th 2009, 10:51
An utter disgrace.
How do we expect civil society to support the authorities to improve the environment if we see ourselves being taken for a ride and our efforts dismissed in such a callous way?
Let us hope that the same is not happening in other areas where public support and cooperation is essential for a betterr traffic environment. Is it a case that the same is happening when we report potholes or faded road markings? I honestly suspect so.
One also asks where do the traffic wardens feature in such an equation
I trust that like in any good audting procedure the report is followed up by a series remedial measurs and ongoing visits by the auditors to the ADT to ensure that such a disgraceful state of affairs is rectified.
Michael Seychell
Jul 14th 2009, 10:42
Had I been Chairman and/or Board member of the ADT, I would have first taken appropriate action against the manegement team and than offered my resignation from my appointment.
Any further comments will be superflueous.
r ferriggi
Jul 14th 2009, 10:15
with cases like this one,,, mostly coming from governmental departments, authorities and the like,,,,, are a TOTAL DISGRACE.
they epitomise the government itself. DETERIORATION BY THE DAY.
the people are VERY FED up with these things, and the signal to all is :
''do your OWN ( obscure/illegal) thing because the government is being reckless itself''.
IT IS DISGRACEFUL HOW THESE GOVERNMENTAL HEADS CONTINUE AS IF NOTHING IS GOING WRONG,,,,, EVERYTHING IS FINE.
SHAME.
Joe Morana
Jul 14th 2009, 10:02
Tell it to the marines and stop hiding behind the failed SMS emissions alert schceme. ADT Just do your job p[roperly with adeqaute surveliance and enforcement. I am sure that ADT does not need SMSs to curtail emissions abuse, emssions abuse is rampant so obvious to detect that one wonders what the ADT inspectorate paid from public funds is doing. Please do not put more salt into the wound. Stop taking the public for a ride and when you are ina hole stop digging .
DVella
Jul 14th 2009, 09:40
This is a shameful disgrace and is totally unacceptable!!! Someone must answer for this disgusting debacle and betrayal of people's trust. Heads have to roll!!