Spot the dents and scratches on Arriva’s road-weary fleet

Joe Brincat-LL.D

Aug 7th 2012, 08:48

I had some Arriva colours on my car recently. I did not blame the driver as the precarious situation was created by the works being carried out in Marsa, which lasted six months (and still not ready). My car was parked.

What irks me more with Arriva is unreliability of information. I was ashamed to see tourist at Cirkewwa at 9.00pm on Sunday before last, waiting for bus 41 which never arrived. Then after several complaints from a whole crowd, an official was directing passengers to alternative routes. 45 minutes later he "invented" a 41 bus.

But sometimes Arriva does miracles. I clicked on the website and looked at Route 130. Miracle of Miracles. From Valletta to Bugibba you can do it in less than 5 minutes. See for yourself. Then I looked at the map. The route legend says one thing, the arrows on the map say exactly the opposite.

And this is not the fault of the drivers.

Joe Brincat-LL.D

Aug 7th 2012, 08:05

I had some Arriva colours on my car recently. I did not blame the driver as the precarious situation was created by the works being carried out in Marsa, which lasted six months (and still not ready). My car was parked.

What irks me more with Arriva is unreliability of information. I was ashamed to see tourist at Cirkewwa at 9.00pm on Sunday before last, waiting for bus 41 which never arrived. Then after several complaints from a whole crowd, an official was directing passengers to alternative routes. 45 minutes later he "invented" a 41 bus.

But sometimes Arriva does miracles. I clicked on the website and looked at Route 130. Miracle of Miracles. From Valletta to Bugibba you can do it in less than 5 minutes. See for yourself. Then I looked at the map. The route legend says one thing, the arrows on the map say exactly the opposite.

And this is not the fault of the drivers.

E Spiteri

Aug 6th 2012, 18:02

If other road users have some logic sense of GIVING WAY to Public Transport especially buses keeping in mind that the majority of the bus drivers are new and inexperienced .Practice makes perfect and by time they will get there.

But NO instead of helping out I often witness cars speeding up when they see a bus with right indicator on trying to get out of a stage,parking on yellow lines - making it difficult to bus drivers to manoeuvre the buses and cannot alight passengers next to the kerb because 'Mr I don't care' parked his car on the bus stop to get some pastizzi.I am sure that if we try out these few points that were mentioned here ,accidents-dents and scratches on Arriva buses will drastically decrease ! I really don't know why there is all this hate towards Arriva and her bus drivers ?

And T.M some suggestions goes for you as well...You must ensure that all bus stops around the island are all the time clear from obstacles,introduce the right of way to buses/more bus lanes and do some roads strictly for buses only. T.M,to try changing our mentality on how we drive especially i insist again towards bus drivers,with no respect at others not even pedestrians and cyclists, I am sure you have to intervene for the sake of thousands of passengers that make use of public transport daily and to encourage more people moving together switching from car to public transport.

Anthony Borg

Aug 6th 2012, 15:14

@ Chris Vella

... and this

http://www.reviewcentre.com/Bus-Services/Arriva-Bus-Service-review_1637187

and also this

http://www.reviewcentre.com/Bus-Services/Arriva-Bus-Service-review_1637280

ALL these people can't be inventing things or anti PN or whatever....

As Mr Chris Vella's cryptic heading says "Some one will die" - ARRIVA don't say we have not been informing you of what is happening under your patronage.

Chris Vella

Aug 6th 2012, 11:12

Read this:

Review of Arriva Bus Service

"Some one will die"

Arriva buses on Malta have to be the most dangerous form of transport . I don't know how the people of Malta put up with such wreck less driving. We had 2 very near missis in one day where the driver slammed his brakes so hard people were sent flying including my wife who is pregnant and landed on my 2 year old daughter . Some thing needs to be done imeadetly before someone is killed.

You can find it here

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews68070.html

Chris Vella

Aug 6th 2012, 10:25

Arriva is money making Machine they don’t care about anything but making money. Re many comments I read here that it’s not their fault cause of our roads keep in mind that the roads good or bad where here so they would have known what type of buses suits best the island if they cared. The change of routes doesn’t justify them either since they got hold of the former ATP low-floor buses which where regularly driven through our roads before Arriva and hardly we heard of crashes at the time.

Regarding the drivers, some of which are excellent drivers but with very poor manners with commuters on the other hand there are a lot of rookies (new drivers) which lack experience. Drivers that got their D licence in a week or less. They can move the bus but not driving it which is a different thing. Proof of this is the video clip we have here and the way in which a one year old fleet most of which was brand new is reduced to a scrap lot. If you want to see more just visit the coach builders around the island. This should be of concern to everyone since we all use the same roads. Are the drivers properly trained? Who decides when they are ready to go on the road?

One more thing I would like to know what’s the capacity of the various buses. At which point they are overloaded?

The ATP buses had signs which indicated the capacity of the buses Ex 46 seated and 12 standing and TM officials used to check frequently about this at the time. Fines were issued and they where no joke I heard.
You know why recently I was at Paceville and a former ATP bus showed up and the number of people that got out of it was by far more than that allowed on the same bus before, it was clearly overloaded. TM officials where there but they did nothing. Wonder why since it was the same type of bus.

Anthony Borg

Aug 6th 2012, 08:33

@ John Cole Smith.

My utter disappointment is that ARRIVA is a British Company.

Football and other mundane things apart, I always believed that the British would get it right.
I admit, hands down, that our Maltese-type public transport should have gone down in the Guinness Book as the worst in the world - with apologies to many good, well-mannered and efficient former ATP bus drivers.

When the Arriva-Tumas group were announced that they clinched the tender for 10 years, I thought, finally, an efficient British transport company would provide us with a Public Transport system "state-of the-art" (as we have lovingly patronized this cliché), under British Management!

What a disappointment it turned out to be - what a let-down in the most basic element of Public Transport: Keeping to timely schedule of arrival and departure times.
Does Mr.Dave Kaye, Managing Director, actually directs from his office in Malta?
Or is Mr Thomas Dimech, Commercial Manager, running the show single-handedly?
Somehow their expertise is not visible on the long waiting times 30 - 45 minutes at Bus Stops – or the missed scheduled trips at Valletta Terminus.

Transport Malta must step in and find a solution to this problem of late-arriving bus!
To heck with neck ties, dents, bendy buses and so forth – they come secondary.

John Cole Smith

Aug 6th 2012, 00:22

Oh Come On, every thing Arriva does is wrong?, that is not right at all, if Arriva did anything wrong, one thing is definitely right;

All these dents, and panel beating, and so on , which as it says , for financial reasons, will, not say, or quantify, are all ready paid up!

All Arriva has to do, is as its done already, where ever the public is getting a service, Arriva stops it, introduces longer journeys, with more beating round the bush, to get from A to B , then turns on Government and asks it for another 100, 000, 000 euro.

Now that is surely not a wrong thing is it?

Of course it depends which side you are on!

James Dewar

Aug 5th 2012, 21:59

Could it be that in an effort to maintain schedules drivers are forced to conveniently forget much of their "high standard" training so as to prevent their employeres, Arriva, being fined? Tight deadlines and schedules are not conducive to maintaining safe driving standards and drivers and passengers should not be placed at risk in the interests of commercialism. Arriva has probably not seen the return it expected from the Maltese contract even at this early stage and there will be pressure to maximise profit in all areas of the operation.

joe vella

Aug 5th 2012, 21:53

ha ha trained to arrivas highest standards sorry but they are not i am an arriva driver and believe me i did not get my bus licence in a matter of days the standard of driving by arriva drivers trained in malta is a disgrace ARE YOU BLIND LOOK AT THE STATE OF THE BUSES

francis x caruana

Aug 5th 2012, 21:27

u din mhux buzzilotta ohra to austin gatt. hav you forgoten how much it cost us and is stillcosting us and how much we still have to pay in taxes for it.

Joseph Zerafa

Aug 5th 2012, 21:20

Arriva Buses arrive at Qawra Bus Terminus at 5.30 AM every morning. On arriving Bus drivers do not turn off the engine and remains with the noisy engine started for more than one hour. This is a very annoying disturbance at so early time in the morning. They are waking up all residents in the area. I am sure that it is illegal for any driver to leave an engine started when parked, and to leave a car or a bus with engine started and no driver in the car. Who is responsable to take action, Please. ? There are complaints from many residents of Triq il Kurazza and Triq it Turisti Qawra

william cauchi

Aug 5th 2012, 20:44

Has anybody ever tried to drive a 60 foot apartment through our narrow roads?

Well that how big the bendy buses are. I say it's a miracle that they get to their destination in one piece.

George Joseph Cauchi

Aug 5th 2012, 20:37

Anything goes in Malta. When i see an Arriva bus coming my way I stop or reverse back to a safer section of the road. Sometimes they pass through by a whisker and i count my lucky stars that my car was not damaged or hurt.

Mr Tony Gatt

Aug 5th 2012, 20:10

Every time I see an Arriva bus gliding serenely by me here in Chester I think of Malta. I bet Arriva wish they had never heard of the place!

Peter Shaw

Aug 5th 2012, 19:42

Our roads remind me of the Sci-Fi series space 1999 which featured a moon base !

Jay Oatmon

Aug 5th 2012, 19:36

Malta should do something similar to Japan where they use much narrower trucks and buses in the city streets, even the rubbish trucks there are special mini sized.

Raymond Micallef

Aug 5th 2012, 18:43

It would be interesting to know, although rather late in the day, if a proper assessment was performed prior to the ordering of these massive buses!!! I believe that one main contributing factor in the incident investigations is the size of the bus compared to the roads it is being driver thru'. Personally these buses are not meant for our Maltese roads. Our roads can take 20 seater buses but the larger buses are to be used on thr ring roads. I will not comment on the drivers' abilities, but one thing one cannot deny these buses are driver by the highest European and Arriva Standards...........and either the Standards are low or there is some other issue!!!!!

S. Azzopardi

Aug 5th 2012, 18:29

Arriva buses are way too big for our roads. Combine this with a lot of cowboys behind the wheel, give them right of way and continue narrowing our roads and you have a recipe for disaster. We have recently viewed two incidents which could have been very serious indeed (both mentioned above). All this could be the prelude to something more serious. When will the authorities act? Hopefullly not when it is too late!!!

MARK MIFSUD BONNICI

Aug 5th 2012, 18:16

Just returned from a trip to UK. Not one person i spoke too about the bendy buses had one word of praise and all agreed Arriva found a good way of dumping these buses on the Maltese public after getting rid of them from London roads.

What prevented Arriva from using double deckers?

David J Cassar

Aug 5th 2012, 17:54

I can only pass a judgement on the driving manners of Arriva drivers for I do not utilise the bus service. They might have the best of manners with the passengers BUT definitely they score a big ZERO in driving ability/manners. I implore the Arriva management to seriously address this issue. All of the pluses that Arriva has gained in terms of timely service have been totally eroded by the way their drivers behave on the road. If you have ears hear and act, otherwise wait for a big uproar from the "general I can only pass a judgement on the driving manners of Arriva drivers for I do not utilise the bus service. They might have the best of manners with the passengers BUT definitely they score a big ZERO in driving ability/manners. I implore the Arriva management to seriously address this issue. All of the pluses that Arriva has gained in terms of timely service have been totally eroded by the way their drivers behave on the road. If you have ears hear and act, otherwise wait for a big uproar from the "general populace” similar to the one experienced 12 months ago when Arriva was launched!" similar to the one experienced 12 months ago when Arriva was launched!

S. Zahra

Aug 5th 2012, 17:48

easy ..... drivers do not own the buses!

Jos Vella

Aug 5th 2012, 16:42

@E Azzopardi
I agree with you. One advantage 'blessing for tourists' that we shall mention is that most bus drivers in Malta speak more than one language, and can communicate with tourists.
I've been to Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland and to communicate in English was a very big challenge...with the exception of Krakow....as it was hell. I am referring to language barriers when it comes to using the public transport.

D. A . Agius

Aug 5th 2012, 16:39

Well, this is not surprising. Not because of bad driving, obviously, not all their 400 or so drivers are perfect but on the other hand Maltese roads and other road users are far from perfect as well.

I admire their patience when negotiating routes like those that pass in front of the two popular bakeries on the main road in St. Paul's Bay. There is always some idiot double or triple or fishtail parking!

Then again, the buses yes are too wide for most of Maltese inner town roads. However, the size is only slightly more and provides a LOT more comfort to the passenger!

Consider as well that these buses are on the road about 18 hours a day. Your car rarely does 2 hour daily unless you commute north to south every day or get stuck in traffic hotspots. The exposure to bumps, scratches and accidents is obviously going to get higher!

Experience for some of the newer drivers, Discipline and better maintenance may be the solution to better the fleet's image, but then again, thankfully, most buses are a lot better than some clunkers we still had on the road where listening to your MP3 was impossible and reading a book gave you a feeling of sea-sickness!

Ah.. and I'm not a government apologist nor an Arriva spokesman! Just a frequent user.

victor caruana

Aug 5th 2012, 16:10

Silliness.....it is not the buses, neither the drivers.....it is the moon designed ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDSSSSS.

steve maynard

Aug 5th 2012, 16:07

In some ways its funny to read the complaints about the driving standards of the bus drivers. I would say as a regular visitor here they are no worse than most of the car drivers , who are mostly awful too.

E. Azzopardi

Aug 5th 2012, 14:46

Yeah, but Malta is not Europe! They have wide and spacious roads and I cannot comprehend why those responsible opted for the biggest buses on the smallest island. I defended ARRIVA tooth and nail for the first nine months to asses the situation and not to start being negative ( as many are) from the very start. I must say that these bendy buses are creating more traffic jams than ever. Besides, every time I board one, I am hearing more and more rattling. Cannot blame the buses as they are not the best in the world and our roads must be the worst in the world. Not a good combination, is it?
Yeah, but Malta is not Europe and not only in public transport terms either!!

J Galea

Aug 5th 2012, 14:37

Arriva bus drivers may include some polite few but their manners on the road leave much to be desired. And their manners when hitching a ride on the park and ride buses also are lacking. Besides often failing to make space for paying passengers they talk loudly and in some cases swear. Radio playing is common too. Arriva was supposed to bring a new bus service with standards not rehash the old problems. Everybody puts up with these shambles...

m. borg (slm)

Aug 5th 2012, 13:14

It is not the drivers, I will repaet it a thousand times if neccessary, it is the size of the buses.

But on the other hand some drivers are somewhat arrogant and uncourteous.

James Tyrrell

Aug 5th 2012, 12:37

Who cares? The sooner they wreck these ugly things the sooner they might get replaced by something suitable to the Maltese islands.

Freda Harris

Aug 5th 2012, 12:36

There is clearly something wrong with Arriva and its bus drivers since a casual observation
of buses operating in Malta shows that those operated by tour companies and the double
deck sightseeing vehicles do not suffer the damage that occurs to the Arriva fleet. One must
conjecture as to the reasons for this and conclude that many Arriva drivers have no regard
for the vehicles they drive, have little regard for other road users and are not sufficiently well
managed. In support of this view I have witnessed buses being driven at unreasonable speed
around the roundabout at the entrance to Mater Die Hospital with little regard to passengers
and other road users. Additionally buses have been seen racing along Tower Road in Sliema.
It may well be that there is still considerable ill will amongst Arriva's drivers following the
change from the old way of running the bus service. However if the drivers are not content
then they are at liberty to find other employment of their choosing whilst Arriva is at liberty
to find more suitable employees.

Antoine Attard

Aug 5th 2012, 12:31

At least we were rid of the CO2's fumes. I wonder how many lives were saved with the disappearance of these carcinogenic emissions. That would be an interesting survey.

Lawrence Fenech

Aug 5th 2012, 12:25

Academy is the money box for foreigners makeing money out of buses thrown out by England as

One big menace on the roads especially on most of our narrow maltese roads.

Stanley Vassallo

Aug 5th 2012, 12:21

Arriva’s drivers are trained to the highest European and Arriva standards: thus some other factor must be causing all this. The type and size of buses selected maybe?

James Camilleri

Aug 5th 2012, 12:12

We used to grumble about the state of the old buses and the attitude of the drivers. Some of them may have been rude but they got you safely to your destination. And in a year or two the state of the new buses will be much worse than the bone shakers we had before.

Mario Tabone-Vassallo

Aug 5th 2012, 12:07

Arriva buses 1,294 accidents between beginning July last year =end of April this year

C Cassar

Aug 5th 2012, 12:04

It has nothing to do with the vehicles themselves but the contingent of Maltese drivers within Arriva. They have no clue regarding driving safely, with both hands on nthe wheel, not speeding and obeying traffic regulations. These same drivers were with the old 'system' and those buses were also regularly damaged, scratched and dented.

It's a shame that yet again with Maltese in charge of these vahicles that no maintenance is taking place. Time to bring in foreign drivers from other parts of the EU and a foreign (EU) maintenance team if standards are to improve any time soon.

ALBERT FENECH

Aug 5th 2012, 11:59

Never mind and not to worry - as long as "zmien il-buzolliti" is no longer a threat, the Maltese public can stomach anything. However, whoever conceived the idea of bringing bendy buses to Malta deserves a specially padded cell at Mount Carmel Hospital.

ALBERT FENECH

Elvin Muscat

Aug 5th 2012, 11:53

I use to take the previous buses for granted as they made a turn, many would stick their hand, maybe their finger and many times their sharp tongue if you tried to beat them to the corner. But some of the Arriva drivers simply keep going, sometimes near misses are just luck they don't, my side mirror got knocked off in Sliema, a bendy bus almost hit my tail light in St.Julians. I don't risk a chance with Arriva, if I see an area with a few metres to spare I simply don't try as many of the drivers just keep going. Don't forget its not their bus.

Denis A. Darmanin

Aug 5th 2012, 11:08

When the bus isn't their's, some drivers will not care for it as much!
While bendy busses are as alien to Maltese roads as dinosaurs and should be removed.

Jms Cremona

Aug 5th 2012, 11:07

u hafna kienu jghidu li x xufiera li kelna kienu jsuqu bl-addocc u jgorru ax xi karozzi tal linja ma kienux jinzammu nodfa. Fejn huma il karozzi tal linja li s sidien taghhom kienu jibzaw alihom u kienu jghaxquk thares lejhom? ix Xarabanks ta l-Arriva ma tarax wiehed li hu wiehed minghir xi gibda jew daqqa ma xi genb.

Steve Pace

Aug 5th 2012, 10:48

I notice on occassions that the exhuast pipes of these buses are literally squashed allowing very little exhaust to come out. Technically this is not good news for the engine as it increases pressure in the combustion system. It seems Arriva don't much care about how long the buses will serve the public... i wonder why !

john vernon

Aug 5th 2012, 10:43

“Arriva’s drivers are trained to the highest European and Arriva standards at our own training academy,” a company spokesman said,
This says it all you only get what you pay for, i hope drivers are not also tested by their own establishment

From what i have seen in the last 12 months, as a qualified HGV driver and driver trainer in MHE, there trainers should give it up and retire as their training program is defunct.

I watched a female driver with another Arriva member standing forward of the cut offpoint chatting to her, drive straight through a stop sign in Marsa at a high rate of knots with no intention to slow down at all.

It wont be long before someone is unfortunately killed by this companies vehicles. Where will the poor individual and their family stand then?

Pippo De Marco

Aug 5th 2012, 10:27

“Arriva’s drivers are trained to the highest European and Arriva standards at our own training academy,” a company spokesman said.

But maybe the academy should be teaching drivers how to AVOID accidents :)

In fairness to the drivers, whoever determined that large bendy buses we're suitable for our roads must never travel on public transport. They might not even drive themselves.

Perhaps the Minister responsible would care to comment ? ( As if ! ).

David Galea

Aug 5th 2012, 10:24

The used and old buses that Malta got from Arriva and showing their true face lift. I notice that a lot of hard metal is exposed from the small dents that they get. In plain words they had long years of service before they arrived in Malta

Thomas Rubicon

Aug 5th 2012, 10:03

ARRIVA Malta Ltd. is becoming, correction: HAS become a daily menace to road users and commuters.

As this footage reveals, most ( I wouldn’t say ALL because I am not privy to such information) buses are dented and scratched deeply.

Did you notice at the end of the footage the condition of that rear tyre on one of Arriva’s buses!?
No, it was not gnawed by rodents! It is the handiwork of most of Arriva elite drivers who are not properly trained to negotiate corners, kerbs and centre strips! On many occasions on my daily trips on Arriva buses, several drivers do not give a hoot about the upkeep of their vehicles and mount pavements and obstacles to their hearts’ content! This invariably damages the tyres – they are not the owners of these buses, you see, and could not care less. Who can blame them when pressured to keep to tight schedules because the Arriva Malta Ltd. Company does not have enough buses on the road.

In my opinion, moulded by daily usage of public transport, Arriva Malta Ltd. is a failure in the most fundamental necessity: KEEPING TIME and SCHEDULES of arrival and departure of buses.

I just hope that this consortium gives up before the 10-year tender period expires and is liquidated. Perhaps we will then be serviced by a more reliable and serious transport provider than ARRIVA UK.

Dunstan Crockford

Aug 5th 2012, 09:53

Arriva tell this to the marines! If the poor overworked Traffic police were not around here would be chaos.Many of the buses also stop without fuel and this happens once too often.The bendy buses must GO! and the Arriva training `school` should instruct drivers of all their buses that we have a speed limit on our Islands!

Mark Busuttil

Aug 5th 2012, 09:32

"Arriva’s drivers are trained to the highest European and Arriva standards at our own training academy" ... You should see them drive in rural areas at high speed being a danger to everyone. .. Better factor this issue in you training Arriva!!!

Paul Caruana

Aug 5th 2012, 09:29

The combination of narrow congested roads, very large buses travelling at high speed and inexperienced bus drivers trying to keep up to the schedule is a dangerous one!

B. Storace

Aug 5th 2012, 09:22

AND WE SHALL WITNESS MANY MORE.