Arriva’s former CEO has opened up about the “unmitigated disaster” the company experienced in Malta, and he has not held back.
“Doomed to failure.” “Incredibly bad drivers.” “Parasitic consultants” who created a system that was “totally unworkable”. And a company which promised the “undeliverable,” David Martin has admitted.
Mr Martin, who retired last year, told UK transport publication RouteOne that, with the benefit of hindsight, Arriva’s move to Malta was bound to fail.
“We just did not understand the impact of traffic congestion, the differences between the tourist systems, the fact that the police will not control the traffic at all, the fact that the local authority promised us a whole array of bus lanes and individual bus laybys relative to the stops, particularly with our articulated buses,” he said.
We struggled to maintain anything to do with sensible driving standards
Prior to Arriva’s Maltese venture, Malta’s public transport system was run by a drivers’ cooperative, without regulation.
“It was a very bold move of the Maltese politicians to actually want a big bang approach and to regulate bus services and completely tender the whole service provision for the island, which they duly did,” he said.
He felt the government got poor value for money during the initial planning stages.
“They probably spent a huge amount of money on some exceedingly parasitic consultants who certainly charged an awful lot for their services and created something that was absolutely, totally, unworkable,” he said.
Arriva then bid against a specified timetable. But having done so, it subsequently realised that “there was then a clear situation that politically they [the Maltese government] could not afford".
The company then sought to cut costs, subsequently promising things that Mr Martin now admits “were undeliverable in reality”.
Mr Martin’s comments about driving standards were especially telling.
“We struggled to maintain anything to do with sensible driving standards. Our accident rates were unbelievable; the quality of drivers there was incredibly bad.”
Arriva’s services were plagued with problems from their very first day of
operations. Despite attempts at an effective reboot to its bus routes, the company quit Malta in early 2014 – just three years into a 10-year contract.
The company, which runs bus and rail services in 14 EU countries, had learnt from its Malta mistakes, Mr Martin said.
“Going somewhere completely cold and new and attempting in one go to change everything, with a poor partnership approach, is doomed to failure.”