Malta Public Transport categorically denies that drivers or buses are being kept idle (‘State drivers kept idle as UBS earns €30,000 a day’, The Sunday Times of Malta, October 5). The company has a strict policy that company resources, including drivers and buses, are fully utilised before resorting to sub-contracting.

The selection of the routes to be operated by sub-contractors is not based on what is “easier” or “straightforward”. Nor is it done to give some form of “preferential treatment” to sub-contracted services as is being claimed in the article in question.

The company normally allocates sub-contractors on the least busy routes to minimise the amount of potential revenue loss and also to minimise the amount of complaints received from passengers given that some of the sub-contracted services are not low floor and, therefore, not easily accessible to all.

Having said that, throughout the summer, sub-contractors were also allocated busy routes in view of the high demand on certain routes.

This year, the bus operator deployed more buses when compared to last year and ensured the required schedules and passenger demand were met successfully.

The facts are that, throughout 2014, the bus operator sold more tickets than last year, has carried more passengers than last year and even with sub-contracting and an overall increase in fleet size, the operational cost base for the company is still less than it was for the same period last year.