Transport Minister Joe Mizzi should be upfront about the buses’ loss of revenue, service quality and fares, according to his Opposition counterpart Toni Bezzina.

Mr Bezzina accused the minister of “shirking responsibility” and of “lumping the Maltese taxpayer with a loss of €7 million in three months”.

“This is four times the amount that the Maltese taxpayer paid in a whole year to the private company that used to run the service and which was only paid a fixed subsidy,” he said. This surpasses the €10 million allocated for public transport in the 2014 budget.

Mr Bezzina urged Mr Mizzi to tell the public how much taxpayers are estimated to pay for public transport, what kind of fares are being proposed, and how much the companies interested in taking over the service are asking for in subsidies.

He also asked why certain routes were no longer operating till 11pm, why there is no night service between Friday and Saturday and what was being done to make the hired temporary buses more accessible for people with disabilities and the elderly.