(Adds ministry's reply)

A number of Arriva buses have had their tyres changed and the new ones were hard and not suitable for Malta’s roads, PL transport spokesman Joe Sammut said this afternoon.

Addressing a news conference he said this this observation was made by industry sources, which he did not name, and called on the Malta Standards Authority to verify the claims.

Dr Sammut cast doubts on the level of maintenance Arriva had on its buses. He said that given that the buses were being used continuously, common sense and logic dictated that not enough maintenance was carried out.

On the latest accident at Portes des Bombes, Dr Sammut asked whether the ABS braking system was working properly. He also asked, given the state of some Arriva buses, whether VRT tests were being carried out.

On the issue of the adequacy of the choice of drivers, he suggested this was not in line with good practice.

Dr Sammut said Arriva could not be the instructor, examiner and licence issuer.

The lack of drivers, he said, was the result of Transport Malta’s insistence to prevent experienced drivers who had a tainted police conduct from applying for the job.

Some of these drivers, he said, had been involved in the bus strike that preceded the reform or were caught up in a licence scandal some years ago.

The court recommendation had been for their licence not to be taken away but a different policy seemed to have been adopted with the bus drivers involved.

Asked what would a PL government do, he said the solutions had to start from improving the infrastructure and removing traffic bottlenecks in the road network

When asked whether a PL government would renegotiate the Arriva contract, he said the PL first had to see what the contract said.

On bendy buses, Dr Sammut said that where these were an inconvenience, the problem had to be solved. However, a solution was needed before they were removed.

He said that TM and Transport Minister Austin Gatt had to shoulder responsibility for the mess.

PL HAS NO ALTERNATIVE PUBLIC TRANSPORT POLICY - MINISTRY

In a reply, the Transport Ministry expressed concern that the person who wanted to be the next transport minister had not yet read the contract between the government and Arriva.

This contract, the ministry said, had been public since October last year when it was placed on the table of the House at the request of one of Dr Sammut’s colleagues.

The ministry referred to the claim by industry sources that the tyres used by Arriva buses were hard and said that these sources were probably Dr Sammut’s mechanic.

Bus tyres, the ministry said, were regulated by international standards and there were competent authorities to ensure that the tyres conformed to these standards.

With reference to his question as to whether the ABS breaking system on the buses was working properly when the accident at Portes des Bombes took place, the ministry said this was a matter for the competent investigators to tackle.

However, Dr Sammut's suggestion that the government should be held responsible if it was found that this braking system was defective was absurd.

It was low of the PL to exploit the accident for political gain rather than provide alternatives to the government’s policy, the ministry said.

It said that buses were not exempt from VRT tests.

The ministry said that it did not agree with Dr Sammut’s suggestion that all those who could drive a bus should be employed as drivers even if these had a criminal record and could be a threat to passengers.

It noted that the MLP had withdrawn its promise that it would remove the bendy buses from Maltese roads should the PL be elected to government.