The Transport Minister is blaming the Opposition for the delay in the publication of the bus service agreement signed last December, saying the PN was only intent on “speculating and fuelling negative perceptions” before the fully fledged service is rolled out in July.

“Once the public is well informed about the new service and route network, the government will table the contract in Parliament,” Joe Mizzi told Times of Malta.

Asked whether he was satisfied with the performance of Spanish company Autobuses de Leon, which took over the service in January, he said the government’s “good work” in this sector was being praised by other countries. “I can tell you that the Cypriot Transport Minister recently sought my advice as he was positively impressed by the government’s strategy to reform the bus service,” he added.

However, transport shadow minister Marthese Portelli rubbished Mr Mizzi’s claims as “nonsense”.

“The Spanish operator took over almost six months ago and the government’s delay in publishing the contract is fuelling suspicions that it might have something to hide,” she said.

Government fuelling suspicions it may have something to hide

Dr Portelli questioned whether the contract had really been signed or if the delay in its publication was due to the fact that the government wanted to keep some clauses secret or change them in due course.

In spite of promising to table the contract in Parliament once negotiations with the Spanish company were concluded, the Transport Minister is yet to do so even though it was signed late last year.

To date the only information offered by the government is that the level of subsidy this year will go up to €23 million but will increase further from next year.

Questions on the bus contract were raised last week when it emerged that the level of subsidy given to the Spanish bus operator so far this year had already equalled the amount for the whole of 2013, when Arriva was operating the service.

Replying to a parliamentary question filed by Dr Portelli, Mr Mizzi said Autobuses de Leon, which is operating under the name of Malta Public Transport Services, had received €9.6 million this year.

However, the Transport Minister told this newspaper that the level of subsidy Arriva was receiving was too low for any company to be commercially viable and fulfil its contractual obligations. He pointed to the fact that Arriva had gone bust and opted out of its 10-year concession less than three years after starting operations in Malta.

He said the bus service had made improvements since January, to the point that the operator did not have enough buses to meet demand. However, he noted the agreement bound the Spanish company to gradually increase its fleet of buses by about 100 by the autumn.

Questions sent to Malta Public Transport Services on the level of patronage since the start of the year were not answered by the time of writing.