The shadow minister for transport Joe Sammut raised doubts over the level of training being provided to new bus drivers, by public transport operator Arriva. He said that the recent incident, in which a bus on its way to Blue Grotto in Zurrieq ended up in a field, is a blatant example of the lack of competence of some drivers.
At the same time he complained that a significant number of bus drivers who formed part of the old service provided by the Public Transport Association are being barred employment with Arriva, on the grounds of their police conduct.
According to Dr Sammut their offences are minor and are related to the incidents which occurred during the public transport strike of July 2008. He added that these drivers can contribute to improve the level of public transport.
The Labour spokesman made these remarks during a press conference held today at the party headquarters in Hamrun.
Though he might have a case regarding the pre-Arriva bus drivers, it is widely acknowledged that their level of etiquette with the public was never one of their strong points, to put it mildly. It might also be the case that Arriva is very reluctant to employ any drivers from the previous service, following the bad experience of the launch of its service when the majority of them failed to turn up for the first day of work, causing havoc in the service for several weeks.
Dr Sammut also claimed that no proper maintenance is being carried out on buses and complained that no inspections are being made to ensure that buses are road worthy. He added that the vast majority of buses right now would fail the vehicle roadworthiness test (VRT).
The PL spokesman also claimed that some mechanical parts are being replaced by inferior quality products, such as the tyres. Asked to give evidence for such claims, he said that “this is clear to everyone”.
He said that the current service is far below what had been promised, and the compensation paid so far by the government to the transport operator highlights the bad planning of the reform. In this context he also lashed out at the transport ministry for spending €700,000 in consultancy.
He also referred to a recent parliamentary question in which the transport minister said that since the service was launched in July of last year, €685,000 in compensation have been paid to Arriva following the changes in routes and the need for more buses than had been originally planned. On the other hand he branded the fines imposed which amount to about €480,000 as not enough.
Asked by this newspaper whether a Labour led government would renegotiate the agreement with Arriva, Dr Sammut gave no definite reply and limited himself saying that the ultimate aim is to have an efficient service. He said that the PL has plans in hand already to improve public transport but said that he could not give more details at this stage.
Regarding last Wednesday’s accident in Floriana which left 29 passengers injured, Dr Sammut claimed that one of the buses had its ABS faulty.
But in a reaction issued in the evening, the Transport Ministry harshly criticised Dr Sammut’s comments, questioning the sources he relied on. The ministry said that it was likely the MP’s own mechanic who raised doubts about the buses’ tyres.
It noted that it was worrying to discover that Dr Sammut was yet to read the contract between Arriva and Transport Malta, even though this contract has been publicly available since October 2011.
The ministry also pointed out that the Floriana accident was under investigation, and condemned Labour for exploiting it for political ends at a time when the cause of the accident was yet to be determined.