Malta’s bendy buses were sold for less than half the price that similar vehicles are being advertised for online.

Times of Malta found 10 Mercedes Citaro bendy buses advertised online yesterday by different sellers in Europe for between €17,900 and €32,000 (excluding VAT). These buses were all the same age or older than the vehicles sold by Malta at just over €7,000 each.

The Transport Ministry denied that the fleet of 81 Mercedes Citaro buses inherited from Arriva was sold cheap, saying that the offer accepted was “marginally better than the current ongoing market value”.

All 81 bendy buses plus unused parts were bought this week by an unidentified Maltese bidder for €601,200 (excluding VAT).

The original purchase price of all unused parts equates to €203,044, according to a document issued by Malta Public Transport Services with the expression of interest notice published on February 6.

If the value of the parts is disregarded completely, the buses were sold for €7,422 each.

The winning bidder for Malta’s buses will be exporting them to Sudan within four weeks.

The Transport Ministry refused to reveal the identity of the new owner, saying this was a commercial transaction that was not in the public interest.

Malta Public Transport Services inherited the bendy buses when it was established by the government to temporarily operate the public bus network, after Arriva agreed to terminate its 10-year contract on January 1 following persistent service problems and heavy financial losses.

The bendy buses did not form part of negotiations with Arriva so Malta Public Transport Services acquired them free of charge and will pocket the money from their sale.

“If Arriva thought that the bendy buses could fetch a significantly higher price than we have accepted, they would have sold them themselves to recover some of their losses. It is evident that it did not make commercial sense and it was more feasible to leave them behind,” the Transport Ministry said.

All 81 Mercedes Citaro bendy buses sold by Malta Public Transport Services were manufactured between 2004 and 2005.

A Mercedes Citaro bendy bus manufactured in 2002 was advertised for sale on used machinery website Sigmaplantfinder.com yesterday for £16,000 (€19,405). Like Malta’s former behemoths, it is capable of carrying 150 passengers.

On auto trade website Truckscout24.com, Times of Malta found nine Mercedes Ciatro bendy buses that were the same age or older than Malta’s being sold for between €17,900 and €32,000 (excluding VAT for each vehicle). Several of these buses had a lower passenger capacity than the ones sold by Malta.

Malta Public Transport Services advertised its buses for sale in ‘tale quale’ (as they are) condition, including stock of parts.

It offered no warranty or a guarantee other than it owned the vehicles and parts.

Three bidders expressed interest in acquiring the bendy buses and spares. Malta Public Transport Services sold them to the highest bidder who was willing to meet all its conditions, including exporting all vehicles and equipment out of the country within four weeks.

These tight conditions may at least in part explain why the buses were sold for less than the buses advertised online.

The Transport Ministry said the window for expressions of interest in buying the 18-metre buses was limited to eight days because their value would depreciate the longer they were left out of service.

A spokeswoman added that the ministry had done its homework and knew the market value of such second-hand buses. She refused to say how much Arriva had originally paid, saying this had no bearing on the current market value.

The vehicles were introduced to Malta when Arriva began operating the reformed public transport service in July 2011.

They were withdrawn in late August over safety fears after three caught fire within a short space of time, and have remained off the road since.

A report into the fires by experts appointed by Transport Malta concluded that diesel spillage and poor cooling were the likely cause. However, arson could not be totally ruled out.

The government is accepting expressions of interest in becoming the new public transport operator until April 4.

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.