Transport Malta will be imposing penalties on route bus operator Arriva for two deviations from the contracted service, as well as for failed to provide alternative transport when a bus broke down.

Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said when replying to questions in Parliament that the most important aspect was improvement of the service, rather than the levying of fines on the operator.

He said it had resulted that on July 6, between 6 and 8pm, all six trips on routes 41 and 42 had left Ċirkewwa, but one bus driver had decided to deviate from the stipulated route and gone through the St Paul’s Bay Bypass instead of the village main road. This had also happened in the other direction.

It had also resulted that a bus had broken down between Valletta and Ċirkewwa but had not been replaced.

The minister said that in the next few weeks Transport Malta would focus on both routes to ensure that the service was rendered as scheduled.

Redeployment of bendy buses

The minister also said that Arriva has agreed in principle to deploy articulated (bendy) buses only on main roads that are wide enough to take that size of vehicle.

The change would be implemented in the next few months as part of the talks being held between Transport Malta and the public transport operator in such a way as to ensure that the buses’ removal from certain routes would not have a negative impact on passengers’ needs.