Labour laments late buses and broken promises

Public transport reform has not delivered the goods as buses turn up late and not all were equipped with air conditioners or were accessible to disabled people, according to Labour Party transport spokesman Joseph Sammut.

...people still cannot tell what time the bus will arrive...

Speaking at the Valletta bus terminus, on the first anniversary of the reform, Dr Sammut said Transport Malta had failed to fulfil the promises made.

He levelled his criticism at the transport authority and not at operator Arriva since, he said, it was the authority’s consultants who did the research for the reform.

The failure was mostly felt in the case of delays as people still could not tell what time the bus would arrive and when they would get to their destination, he said.

The Transport Ministry issued a statement saying that the use of public transport had increased by about 10 per cent since last year. The ministry accused Dr Sammut of ignoring the hard work that resulted in 90 per cent of the service running as it should.

Dr Sammut yesterday went through a list of objectives listed a year ago and pointed out that many were had not been reached.

The government, for example, said it would be spending less on subsidies. However, later on during the year it had to fork out a further €2 million to help Arriva with the revised routes, he said. The subsidy increased from €4.6 million to €6.4 million annually.

The government had said 70 per cent of the bus fleet would be new but this was not the case.

The reform was meant to translate into lower bus fares, however, this did not apply to everyone.

Unlike the previous system, all routes had the same fare so people travelling short distances were now paying more.

Mr Sammut said said it was unacceptable that tourists were charged different rates to locals.

On a positive note, the transport system in Gozo had improved as it was virtually inexistent before. Bus drivers were also better trained.

In a statement, Arriva said that 99 per cent of its buses were equipped with air conditioning units and 187 vehicles of the fleet, made up of 285 buses, were approximately one year old.

“Arriva completes 74,000 kilometres per day in Malta and Gozo and offers the most extensive network with many travel options. In spite of road works, traffic congestions and badly parked private vehicles, Arriva completes 92 per cent of all its journeys on time.

“Irrespective of this the company and its 1,100 employees work hard every day to improve operational performance.”

Recent route changes had satisfied most requests, it added.