No request for refunds over bus routes

The government has no intention of asking for refunds from the consultants who drew up the new controversial bus routes and suggested decentralising the system.

“This was technical advice given to the government to ensure taxpayers’ money was spent cautiously and responsibly while increasing the relevance of public transport,” the Transport Ministry said.

Reacting to a Labour Party statement calling for the resignation of Transport Minister Austin Gatt and his political appointees, the ministry insisted that bus passengers had increased by about 20 per cent.

Although the number of people criticising the service was “small”, they too had to be heeded, the ministry said.

“But the Labour Party has to decide whether to criticise the government for being ‘arrogant’ because it does not listen to those who complain, or ‘incompetent’ because it listens to complaints and makes adjustments to satisfy them.”

Last Saturday, the ministry announced a major overhaul of routes.

“The government has no difficulty assuming responsibility for the fact that it adopted and followed its technical advice or for the decision to keep what people liked from the new network while introducing direct connections from all localities to Valletta and Mater Dei Hospital,” the ministry said.

It added that the Labour Party did not contribute anything during the two-year consultation period, even though the routes had been made public since December 2008.

The Labour Party simply “exploited” the difficulties at the start of the service for political gain, riding on the public reaction of those who preferred direct routes instead of a decentralised system.

In a statement issued earlier yesterday, Labour’s transport spokesman Joseph Sammut said the failure in the reform was due only to the “insensitivity” of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Dr Gatt and his political appointees.

“It is surprising that the government now made a partial admission of failure when just last week, the government was claiming the reform had been successful.”

Dr Sammut said the Labour Party had from the very beginning of the transition highlighted the fact that the public was not being adequately served.

Dr Sammut, who presented the parliamentary motion calling for Dr Gatt’s resignation, said it was not enough for the government to admit a mistake and act as though nothing had happened.

“Austin Gatt and his political appointees should shoulder responsibility and resign.”

Besides calling on the government to demand a refund on the €400,000 consultancy work, some of which was carried out by PN candidates, Dr Sammut said the government should also explain whether the changes proposed last week would increase the cost burden on taxpayers.