The taking over of the bus service by the government will be costing the taxpayer €2 million per month until a new operator is selected to replace the departing Arriva.

The government has refused to say what the costs of the operations would amount to, but sources confirmed that these would rise to €2m per month. The government intends to finalise an agreement with a new operator by the middle of this year – a call for expressions of interest will be made public this week – and so the total cost (if the new operator takes over in July) would amount to €12 million.

Arriva were losing €1.8 million per month but the deficit will rise with the removal of the two-tier ticket system – foreigners were made to pay more for using the service – as from Monday.