Yesterday’s news that a preferred bidder for the country’s new and improved public transport system has been decided upon is most welcome, but, as with any reform of such magnitude, certain questions arise.

That the country is in dire need of a decent public transport system is beyond any shadow of a doubt, and the urgency here is multifaceted. That the details of the bid released yesterday are nothing but perfectly rosy on paper is also reassuring and perfectly welcome news.

But the main question that arises from yesterday’s announcement deals with the balance between the technical quality of the bid in question and the accompanying financial considerations. In the case of the selection of the preferred bidder, one cannot help but notice something of a discrepancy.

The winning bidder had clearly outclassed its rival bidder in terms of financial considerations, having been given a total of 250 points in the area compared to the 20 points given to the rival bidder during the adjudication process.

But on the technical quality of the bids, it was the rival, defeated bidder that had won, having garnered 177.37 points against the winning consortium’s 122.51.

But, the ministry responsible underscored yesterday, the winning bidder did not appeal when the technical scores were published, while the losing bidder had not appealed the final adjudication. The lack of appeals in the process clearly shows that neither bidder deemed there had been anything untoward in the way in which the bids were weighted or adjudicated – a good sign considering the fact that bidders on projects of such size rarely have any qualms about appealing, as we have seen time and time again, when they feel they have been slighted.

Granted, the original expression of interest document had said as much when it stipulated provisional criteria on which bids are to be judged. Out of a total of 100 points, the EOI said, 50 were to be given to the amount of public service compensation requested by bidders.

Let us hope that the country will not have been let down on purely financial considerations in such a crucial reform.

Whatever the case, it seems the country is set to have the public transport system it so direly needs, and the ministry itself declared yesterday that the preferred bidder had “far exceeded” the minimum expectations set out in the tender published by Transport Malta.

Now the decision has been made, let us hope for a speedy negotiation process, which is expected to begin in September, after which the new service should be up and running within six months.

The inception of the country’s new public transport system could not come too soon.

Malta holds the EU’s highest ratio of vehicles on the roads, and a mere 12 per cent of Maltese use public transport at the moment as against the 50 per cent EU average.

It is, of course, little wonder that the Maltese percentage is so low. The state of the current fleet (where else in Europe are rattling buses considered quaint tourist attractions?) and the attitude of some, not all, bus drivers have been not only uninviting but downright deplorable in so many cases.

If wildly successful, which it most definitely will be at least in the first months as large swathes of the population will undoubtedly be eager to try the new fleet and transport system out for themselves, it could work wonders for the country’s carbon footprint – firstly due to a lower emission bus fleet, and secondly by taking more private vehicles off the roads.

If even modestly successful, the new system will be an environmental boon.

Vehicle emissions are a leading source of air pollution and, in the same vein, a leading source contributing to the deterioration of the country’s air quality – itself a major component of the much harped upon need to raise the quality of life of those residing in Malta.

Studies have shown, for example, that Sliema and Gzira suffer the highest levels of particulate matter pollution, found in vehicular emissions, and it is no coincidence that they are among the most heavily transited parts of the country when it comes to the country’s long antiquated bus fleet.

The new mass transit system will go a long, long way towards addressing emissions there and elsewhere.

The €35 million new transport system, in addition to a range of commuter comforts and information services common in the rest of Europe, is to have 230 brand new Euro V buses and an additional 86 buses with Euro V engines between two and seven years old. The new fleet will also include 13 electric-hybrid vehicles to be used in historically and environmentally sensitive areas.

It can be hoped, and also assumed to a certain extent, that the transport reform will fundamentally redefine the way we all look at getting from A to B.