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Government officially takes over public transport
Arriva's two-and-a-half year stay in Malta brought to an end as government and bus company sign share transfer agreement
2 January 2014, 12:00am
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
2 min read
Arriva's tumultuous two and half years in Malta as the country's transport operator was quietly brought to an end this evening after the government signed a share transfer agreement for a government-owned company to take over the transport system.
The agreement will also see Arriva's assets, including its busses, IT system, the Park and Ride facilities and shares, taken over by the government.
Moreover, the €3 million owned by Arriva to its creditors will be borne by the government, Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said this evening.
The agreement was confirmed by Arriva Malta who said that after careful consideration between the two parties, an agreement was struck to transfer the shareholding of Arriva to the government of Malta from today.
"We have considered every alternative together with government representatives and have entered into long and detailed negotiations to try and find a satisfactory outcome for all parties. We believe that this decision will be in the best interests of all stakeholders and ensure continuation of the provision of bus services on Malta and Gozo for the travelling public," Arriva said.
The bus company said it would provide operational management advice to the Government of Malta over the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition for customers and employees.
On its part, the government said it was satisfied with the results struck during the negotiations.
"In light of the company risking liquidation and subsequently freezing its assets, the government sought to ensure that the agreement would be beneficial to all parties," the government said.
The share transfer agreement has been in the pipeline since the government announced that it would take over public transport system.
Arriva management will remain in Malta for a few months to assist Transport Malta with the transition. Sources said that management from TM taking part in the transition would act independently of the transport authority.
The minister said that an expression of interest for both foreign and local companies will be issued in the next few days but he gave no indication as to till when this expression of interest will be extended to.
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Good luck to the new management team for they face a Herculean task. Lessons must be learnt and extensive research made of what went wrong in what was a very expensive transport debacle. Many of the underlying road infrastructure issues and congestion problems will still be there and the minister must make sure he does not raise expectations too high and that his team abstain from the cocky arrogance with which the ARRIVA service was launched. Let us initially concentrate on the Valletta hub principle on which the old local bus service was based and first get it right as regards frequency and timings. To be fair this was the only part of the service which was showing improvement together with the Gozo service. Let us initially restrict direct trips to Mater Dei, airport and to frequented tourist routes. There were too many buses running almost empty on too many routes.
