Transport company Arriva has admitted that a lack of buses on three south-bound routes contributed to the poor service in Żurrieq and its environs.

The admission was made almost 48 hours after The Sunday Times revealed the contents of a damning letter sent to the company by the regulator.

Transport Malta had noted a series of shortcomings, including a lack of buses, which made the service unreliable.

On Monday the company ignored questions sent by this newspaper but in a statement yesterday Arriva acknowledged there were problems on routes 71, 72 and 73 that serve the localities of Żurrieq, Mqabba, Qrendi, Kirkop, Safi and Luqa.

It said the timings on these routes, which were Arriva’s prerogative, were “unachievable and unsustainable”. The company said problems were aggravated by traffic congestion, especially at the roundabout next to the airport.

Arriva said it will increase the number of buses serving stops on the three routes. On agreement with Transport Malta, the company said it will also increase the frequency on route 73 to a half hourly service.

The revised services will start on December 2.

On Monday the Transport Ministry said Arriva was not making an effort to improve the service on problematic routes but defended the public transport reform.

The ministry said 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,” the ministry had said.

The Government came in for some scathing criticism after Transport Malta’s letter was made public.

Labour Party transport spokesman Joseph Sammut said the Government had to shoulder political responsibility for the “failed reform”, while the GWU said the regulator should not shift responsibility onto the company and its workers.