Transport Minister Joe Mizzi is still not satisfied with the outcome of safety tests on bendy buses carried out by transport operator Arriva.
For now the articulated buses will remain off the road pending technical clarifications, he said yesterday.
“Arriva’s report does not give me the certainty I had asked for and I am waiting for technical answers on a number of issues,” Mr Mizzi said.
He did not elaborate on what the technical issues were. In an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta last week, the minister justified the non-publication of Transport Malta’s technical report because it contained information that people could use to cause problems.
He said there was no timeline yet for when and if the bendy buses would return to the roads but the Unscheduled Bus Service would continue to operate on public transport routes to ensure uninterrupted service.
Mr Mizzi said the contingency plan had worked and school transport run by UBS had not been impacted.
On Monday, Arriva said it had passed on the results of safety tests on bendy buses to Transport Malta. The company said two bendy buses were put through 36 hours of rigorous testing.
Arriva Malta managing director Mark Bowd described the tests as a resounding success.
An independent body had also certified that the tests had been concluded correctly on the buses.
Arriva wants the vehicles to return to service but so far the company has not said what caused the three fires in August, which led to the buses being suspended from service.
Four weeks after urging the Transport Ministry to reconsider the decision to pull bendy buses off the roads, drivers are acknowledging their absence has led to less congestion on arterial roads.
It is not the first time that I had to endure the embarrassment of being overtaken by a mountain bike when driving up a hill
Bus drivers had initially dismissed claims that bendy buses were slowing down traffic, attributing the cause to illegal parking. However, one month later they told Times of Malta the flow of traffic in areas like Sliema had improved considerably. But they still maintained the 18-metre long vehicles were more comfortable to drive than other buses.
Confronted with criticism that these vehicles were only capable of going up a hill at a snail’s pace, drivers immediately blamed an engine modification carried out by Arriva mechanics to minimise fuel costs.
They jokingly remarked that when going up a steep hill, the speed was so slow they could count the number of bolts on the wheels.
One driver, who has been employed from the first day of Arriva’s spell in Malta, said that in the beginning no such issues existed. She added that buses nowadays covered many more trips with the same amount of fuel but at a cost because of engine modifications.
“It is not the first time that I had to endure the embarrassment of being overtaken by a mountain bike when driving up a hill,” she said.
Drivers also complained that they are being made scapegoats by the company and the public for any shortcomings including bus breakdowns.
“It is not the first time that we reported a mechanical problem and were instructed to take the vehicle at the Floriana park-and-ride for an inspection.
“However, it later transpired that no action was taken, leaving us no other option but to face irate commuters when the bus breaks down once again,” said one particular driver.
While Arriva denied these claims, saying all buses were being properly maintained, it did not reply to any questions sent by this newspaper regarding engine modification claims.