First it was the London mayor, now an Isle of Man politician has taken aim at Malta’s bendy buses.
They have been seen trying to manoeuvre along the narrow streets of its historic towns with all the grace of a rhinoceros stuck in a Wendy house
John Houghton, a member of the Isle of Man’s House of Keys, is leading a campaign to prevent bendy buses from operating on the small British crown dependency.
“Let’s not become a laughing stock like in Malta, where oversized buses have been seen trying to manoeuvre themselves along the narrow streets of its historic towns with all the grace of a rhinoceros stuck in a Wendy house,” Mr Houghton was quoted as saying yesterday in Isle of Man Today. Mr Houghton did not respond to efforts to contact him by the time of going to press.
His comments came not long after the exhaust fumes settled from London mayor Boris Johnson’s claim that Arriva’s articulated vehicles are “clogging up the streets of Malta”.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference last October, the mayor had lived up to his reputation as a wordsmith by describing the bendy bus as a “jack-knifed diplodocus”.
The furore surrounding his comments led to the Transport Ministry and the Labour Party in Malta issuing statements in response.
There was no sign of the political parties jumping on the bendy bandwagon again yesterday.
Arriva’s articulated buses have been a source of controversy in Malta, with critics claiming they are unsuitable for the island’s narrow, congested roads.
The Transport Ministry and Arriva have consistently defended them on the basis that they can carry large volumes of passengers at peak times.
Speaking to The Sunday Times last month, Arriva Malta managing director Richard Hall said articulated buses were easier to manoeuvre than smaller buses as they had a better turning circle due to the shorter axle length.
But it seems it will take a lot to convince Mr Houghton that the bendy bus is suitable for the Isle of Man, an island nearly twice the size of Malta in the Irish Sea.
Mr Houghton, the MHK for Douglas North, has distributed photos of burning and broken-down buses to members of the Isle of Man legislature.
He is campaigning for a select committee to be set up to investigate whether the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure (DCCL) has taken the appropriate consultation measures before introducing bendy buses.
According to Isle of Man Today, he said: “Children should not be standing (on buses) in this day and age and we should certainly not be encouraging this type of travel (in bendy buses) on the island’s roads.”
The Isle of Man is due to trial two bendy buses “imminently” to see if the benefits of introducing eight on certain routes at certain times outweighed the drawbacks, DCCL Minister Graham Cregeen was quoted as saying.