Transport Minister Joe Mizzi this evening accused the Opposition of using people with disabilities as a political football, raising the issue of such persons who used scooters and needed to use public transport.
Transport Malta, he said, would soon issue identification stickers to denote which mobility scooters could be allowed on buses in view of their manoeuvrability. This followed joint trials undertaken at the minister’s request by Transport Malta (TM) and the National Commission for People with Disabilities (KNPD), trying out motorised and mobility scooters.
The trials had been carried out on a bus that had been in service for four years and a bus that had only recently joined the service. TM and KNPD determined that motorised wheelchairs that were similar to normal wheelchairs could manoeuvre satisfactorily on the buses, while mobility scooters that normally had a longer wheelbase could not.
Three-wheeled mobility scooters could be accommodated on buses and had a history of satisfactory use. TM and KNPD were now drawing up a set of guidelines on the issue.
Mr Mizzi said Arriva had instituted a policy of not allowing scooters on board, making it a condition of carriage but the previous government had never mentioned the issue, much less objected to it.
Answering parliamentary questions by Opposition MP Toni Bezzina, he denied that Autobuses de Leon had asked for a bigger subsidy than the €29 million and that this would be given from next year, when the whole route structure would be in place.
In his pages-long answer he repeatedly charged the Opposition with seeking to confuse the people. Mr Mizzi confirmed that the agreement with the public transport operator would be tabled “in due course”, much before the 11 months it had taken the previous government to table the agreement with Arriva.
At one point, Opposition deputy leader Mario de Marco rose on a point of order, saying standing orders precluded the use of opinions, irony and the like in a parliamentary question.
Speaker Anġlu Farrugia confirmed but added that there was nothing he could do to influence answers.