The Transport Ministry has acknowledged that public transport company Arriva is not making an effort to improve the service on problematic routes.

The ministry is not satisfied Arriva is doing all that is possible to ensure reliability

But it defended the public transport reform, insisting the controls in place today were not possible under the previous system when bus operators “did what they practically liked”.

A spokeswoman said the ministry was aware that the Arriva service was still dogged by punctuality problems on a number of routes.

“The ministry is not satisfied that Arriva is doing all that is possible to ensure that reliability and punctuality ratios are within acceptable international standards,” she said.

As the ministry reacted to a damning warning letter sent to Arriva by the transport regulator revealed in The Sunday Times, the Opposition said the Government was politically responsible for the “failed reform”.

The ministry spokeswoman defended the results of a passenger satisfaction survey recently quoted by Transport Minister Austin Gatt on television that showed 73 per cent of passengers were satisfied with the service.

The survey, she added, related to passenger responses for the whole network. The ministry was “very aware” of the great improvements the current system brought to Malta’s public transport, she added.

“Transport Malta is aware that the majority of routes are well serviced but a number of routes suffer the same problems as the 1970s and this is why it is carrying out the audits,” she said.

Transport Malta found problems of reliability and punctuality on a number of routes and threatened to supply additional buses to service the routes at Arriva’s expense.

Ironically, the main problematic routes are those passing through localities that fall in the electoral district where the Transport Minister’s right-hand man and architect of the public transport reform, Manuel Delia, will be contesting.

The spokeswoman said the ministry had instructed Transport Malta to audit other routes and take all necessary action. She said the Arriva service was still not to the ministry’s satisfaction and the regulator was using its power under the contract to see that the company delivered the service it was contracted for or else be fined.

Questions sent to Arriva yesterday went unanswered by the time of going to print.

The Times asked the company to justify the shortcomings identified by the regulator that included a lack of buses on certain routes, making it impossible for the minimum level of service to be reached.

The company was also asked what changes it would carry out to rectify the shortcomings in the shortest time span possible.

The bus company found the indirect support of the Labour Party and the General Workers’ Union that represents a majority of bus drivers.

In a statement, Labour transport spokesman Joseph Sammut, who also contests the district where the problematic routes are situated, said the regulator’s action confirmed the “failure of the fake public transport reform”.

He said the Government had to shoulder political responsibility for the route planning, which was imposed on the bus company.

On a similar note the GWU said Transport Malta should not shift the blame for problems it had created onto Arriva and its workers.

While acknowledging that things had to change, the union said the routes and timetables were not set by the company and its drivers.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.