Almost 80 per of Arriva's services had been either redesigned or amended, Group CEO David Martin said this afternoon.
Addressing a news conference to give an update on the situation, Mr Martin said a meeting he had with the Transport Minister this afternoon was "productive and constructive".
Mr Martin had praise for the minister who faces a vote of no confidence in Parliament tomorrow over the public transport reform.
The minister had a vision and the situation was not so bad, Mr Martin said. He said there were many positive aspects to the system, which was avant garde, and the buses being used were eco-friendly.
Mr Martin said he always knew there would be some issues in the beginning and the main problem, which was the routes, was now being tackled. He said he would be disappointed for the minister if he had to go over the service.
Mr Martin said that the Malta system was an extremely challenging start to a very ambitious project since it was the first time the company had to start a system from scratch with new buses, new routes and new employees.
Delivery of service was now better but it still needed improvement.
Arriva figures showed that it more people were using the service.
Mr Martin said that before it embarked on operations here, Arriva did not have a clear picture of how bad congestion was on the island and that more resources than they expected would be needed.
On the network changes, he said that although the plan was to redo them after six months, public opinion dictated that these had to be done before.
There were now 94 routes, a 10 per cent increase on the original plan.
The amended routes also reflected an 18 per cent increase in kilometres operated since July.
Mr Martin said that in July there were less than 500 drivers but now there were about 650. The target was to have 800. The company also planned a comprehensive passenger survey.
Arriva was now hounding Transport Malta to include more bus priority lanes so that it would be able to deliver on time.
During the morning congestion in Paola, the three-minute walk between one stop and another took a bus 20 minutes.
Mr Martin said the fleet was currently made up of 264 buses but the plan was to increase the number to 302.
Asked about the fines the company could start receiving from TM as from tomorrow, Mr Martin said said those applied on old routes as the new ones had to undergo a four month trial period. Arriva, he said, was ready to pay for shortcomings which were its fault.
Asked what additional money would Arriva need to cover the changes, Mr Martin said there were discussions ongoing with TM and all would be revealed in due time.