MaltaMedia.com

Transport Malta has chosen Arriva (Malta) Consortium as the preferred bidder to run the new public transport service. Arriva was selected as the preferred bidder following a tendering process that was based on technical parameters as well as financial bids.

Arriva brings to Malta, expertise and professional management, as well as €47 million investment in a sector where it is sorely needed. Arriva has far exceeded the minimum expectations set out in the tender published by Transport Malta, which required as a minimum buses that were not older than 15 years and a minimum Euro III standard with air conditioning and accessibility for persons with disability.

The fleet being provided by Arriva will:

• cost €35 million at the start-up of the new service;
• include 230 brand new Euro V buses;
• include an additional 86 buses all with Euro V engines that are between 2 and 7 years old;
• ensure improved accessibility and comfort: the entire bus fleet will be wheel-chair accessible and air conditioned in addition to the improved safety standards of contemporary bus design that only a fraction of today’s bus fleet is equipped with;
• the new vehicles will include 13 electric-hybrid vehicles that will be used to provide services in historically and environmentally sensitive areas including Valletta, Cottonera, Attard and its surrounding villages, Victoria and a number of routes in the Gozitan countryside;
• be air-conditioned and equipped with on-vehicle destination and ‘next stop’ electronic displays;
• be washed every day to retain the highest standard of cleanliness but specialised equipment will be used to re-cycle 95% of the water;
• be strictly maintained and undergo daily technical checks in accordance with international engineering standards.

This will mean that Malta and Gozo will be equipped with one of the youngest, most modern and most environmentally friendly public transport fleets in Europe. Quite apart from this, a new bus fleet will in and of itself signify an improvement to the quality of our air.

Arriva (Malta) undertook in their submission to make their Malta project a model of sustainable development. Their target is to increase bus passengers by 54% over current levels of use by the end of the 10 year contract term but also undertook to reduce the carbon footprint of Malta’s bus operation by 15% in 2017 over 2011 numbers.

The reduction from the carbon footprint of today’s bus operation is almost inestimable given that the average age of the bus fleet before the changeover to the new system is of over 30 years which will be going down to less than 2 years overnight when the new service starts.

Arriva (Malta) undertook to provide all the services on the extensive network required by Government in the tender process. In addition to this, Arriva undertook to provide night services connecting various destinations around Malta on a 24-hour basis on weekends all year round and all week during the summer months.

The preferred bidder also undertook to employ around 1,100 people in Malta’s public transport operation, more than double existing numbers, creating new jobs for hundreds of people never before connected with the transport industry.

The consortium undertook to introduce contact-less smart cards, several new ticket vending machines as well as operate through agents throughout Malta and Gozo to ensure easy access to their services for tourists and locals alike. In addition the new operator will provide extensive passenger information, with information panels on each stop, route information on all buses, publications, on line information and a call centre. Passenger information will also be provided on around a 100 electronic bus stop displays that are coordinated with vehicle tracking technology that will inform bus passengers in real time on bus arrival times.

Minister Austin Gatt said that “we are a step closer to the reform the country has been hoping for. It is wrong to assume that we can bring about this massive change without investment, both public and private. We do believe however that the rewards the country will reap will go beyond the monetary. Cleaner air, reduced congestion, increased accessibility and improved mobility will be a social, economic and cultural reform that will go far beyond the narrow but highly visible difference made by a new bus fleet on our roads.”

“The reform is far from completed. Quite apart from the fact that Transport Malta still needs to complete negotiations with the preferred bidder on the best possible terms for commuters and the public purse – and that will not be an easy ride – the reform will be a failure if all it does is switch old buses with new ones. The success can only be measured over several years, as we get over the inevitable hitches of the first few months and start convincing more people to make the ‘modal shift’, travelling less often by car and more often by bus. We have a long way to go yet.”

The new bus service is expected to be rolled out 6 months after a successful conclusion of the negotiations that are expected to commence in earnest in the coming days.

Arriva is one of the largest transport services organisations in Europe, employing more than 42,000 people and delivering more than one billion passenger journeys across 12 European countries every year. Arriva is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange that in 2009 registered revenues of GBP 3,147.8 million.