Arriva was performing quite well during its last year of operations in 2013, raising patronage to an all-time high since 1990, according to Transport Malta’s latest data.
The regulator’s annual report also appears at odds with the perception and intense criticism levelled at the service offered by the Anglo-German company.
It shows that the average performance in terms of punctuality and reliability on its routes “was relatively constant through-out the year and hovered between 90 and 95 per cent”.
Its performance was far from perfect, especially in its first months of operations in mid-2011, but the data shows that during its short stint running the island’s route network it had managed to stop the decline of passengers using public transport and started reversing the trend, reaching record numbers in 2013.
“The number of passengers reported in 2013 represents the highest number of passengers carried by public transport since 1990,” according to the report.
The highest number of passengers carried by public transport since 1990
“In 2013, Arriva reported a 15.9 per cent increase in the number of passengers carried when compared to the previous year and an increase of 19 per cent when compared to 2011,” the report said. While the number of public transport passengers was almost in freefall when the service was being run by individual bus owners, dipping to under 30 million in 2006, Arriva’s new service started building up patronage, reaching a record high of 39.5 million in 2013.
Punctuality and reliability of service was also reaching very high levels last year.
According to Transport Malta, the average route punctuality on main lines in 2013 improved when compared to the previous year to stand at 91 per cent.
Average performance was between 90 and 95 per cent with the exception of June and October, when punctuality fell below 90 per cent. The only area where Arriva was still underperforming was in its con-tractual obligations.
Transport Malta said that out of 4,137 inspections in 2013, including those on board buses and among drivers, the operator was found to be in breach of contract in 42 per cent of the cases. Penalties were imposed in such cases. Arriva left Malta at the end of last year after reaching a deal with the government to end the 10-year concession it had acquired in 2011.
Although Arriva had been running its business at substantial operational losses and was signalling its intention to ask for more subsidies, the decision to call it a day was made when the government ordered the company to take its bendy buses off the streets after a number of onboard fires.
Since the beginning of this year, public transport is being temporarily offered by a government-owned company, Malta Transport Services Ltd, until a new private operator is awarded the concession.
The service is being run at a loss of about €2.5 million a month. Transport Minister Joe Mizzi has already said subsidies for the new operator would have to be much higher than those given to Arriva.