Adds PN statement

The government is to take over the running of the bus services system from Arriva early next year and keep administering it until a new operator is found, The Malta Independent has learnt.

The take-over is expected to take place on 2 January.

Effectively, this would mean that the system would go back to what it was before the so-called public transport reform in 2011 when Arriva had started its operations in Malta.

Arriva is now expected to pull out early next year once its negotiations with the government and Transport Malta are concluded.

The government would then temporarily take over the running the public transport until a fresh call for expressions of interest is concluded and the new operators are chose.

Sources told The Malta Independent that the government’s intentions are not to prolong the “temporary take-over of the bus system for more than a few months”, which means that if Arriva leave by the end of the first quarter, the new operator would be in place by the end of 2014.

Arriva’s departure has been widely expected given the problems that the company faced since day one of its services. That day, bus drivers who had been recruited by the company did not turn up for work with the result that the system got off on the wrong foot, and never really recovered.

The latest setback came in summer when fires on three bendy-buses led to their being suspended from Maltese roads indefinitely, and the government later indicated that there would be no turning back on that decision.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat took to Twitter to weigh in on the news once it was confirmed.

“With a new service, we will work hard on difficult but necessary task to raise standards and give Malta the public transport it deserves,” he said in a post signed JM to confirm that it was personally written by him.

Another tweet, apparently written by his team, states that “the public transport disaster, from bad route planning to EU ticket pricing probe, is a clear example of legacy this government inherited.”

The General Workers Union, which represents bus drivers, announced that it will be meeting Transport Minister Joe Mizzi tomorrow to insist that Arriva’s present employees are retained by whoever takes over the public transport system.

The secretary of the union’s maritime and aviation section, Jeremy Camilleri insisted that workers had to be united more than ever given the circumstances, to enable the union to secure the best possible results.

The Nationalist Party expressed its solidarity with Arriva workers who will be hit by the decision taken by the government.

In a statement, the PN said that whatever the government decides, the new service must be better and the government must ensure that not one of the employees loses his or her job.

The PN appealed to the government to declare what its intentions are and carry out a wide consultation process with all the stakeholders.