The Association of Public Transport yesterday shot down the Labour Party’s plans for the Grand Harbour area, saying it had never been consulted about the project.

Association president Victor Spiteri said the only invitation the association’s committee had had from the Labour Party was made about a year ago, and it was for a meeting to discuss the Labour Party’s plan for a new beginning. The meeting had nothing to do with public transport and the MLP was asked to present its vision on transport.

The MLP said it would shortly be issuing its policy on this but that had not happened.

Mr Spiteri said it was being proposed that the City Gate terminus should go underground, which showed that the Labour Party was cut off from reality and had no conscience about the 500 or so employees in public transport. By building more parking areas in Valletta they would be harming the environment and going against EU policies, which favoured the use of public transport.

Public transport patronage had gone up by two million passengers since 1 January this year. With the MLP’s proposals of parking areas in the city and sea transport services, for instance, that patronage would again decline and the government would have to fork out more subsidies to make up for the losses.