More than 39 million people used Arriva buses in the company’s last year of service, the highest figure ever recorded, according to the National Statistics Office.

A review of last year’s transport services found that more than three million people used the controversial aquamarine buses every month.

The high figure seems to confirm a separate report by Transport Malta which had found that Arriva, which quit Malta at the end of last year, managed to boost the use of public transport, despite heavy criticism from users.

The most popular tickets, used by nine million commuters, were those that lasted a day, while the cheaper three-month bundles were the least popular.

Just one in four bus stops provided any shelter from the blazing summer sun

The report also found that just one in four bus stops provided any shelter from the blazing summer sun. This again seems to tally with the findings of a report by the European Commission, which earlier this year had found that more than one in four commuters were dissatisfied with the bus shelters and other public transport amenities.

The NSO report did not focus exclusively on public transport. A section on contraventions found that speed cameras were expected to rake in €612,000 from speeding fines issued last year. The majority of the speeding tickets (40 per cent) came from the 50 km/h camera on Triq In-Nutar Zarb in Attard.

There were 14,000 accidents last year, 476 fewer than in 2012. Some 1,580 people were injured as the result of traffic accidents, 963 of whom were drivers.