Another 40 new buses arrived from Turkey today and will be put in service this weekend, Malta Public Transport said.

The new buses are 9.6 metres long and slightly narrower than the majority of the previous fleet, which was now being replaced. The new length was aimed at improving the flexibility for the operation to enable the buses to manoeuvre roads better on certain routes.

They are low floor and have a capacity of 60 passengers. They are equipped with Euro 6 engines.

The first batch of 40 new buses arrived in July. The remaining 62 new buses will arrive next month bringing the total number of new buses to 142 buses. So far, the company has imported 115 buses.

The company said it would be immediately returning 23 of the temporary buses it leased from the UK last year. It said these buses had a problem as the air conditioning system was not suitable for Malta, particularly in recent weeks, as the temperatures soared.

Malta Public Transport said the new buses were built specifically built for Malta by Turkish company Otokar with technical personnel from Malta inspecting these vehicles rigorously throughout the manufacturing process.

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