'Brussels will find higher bus fares for tourists to be valid' – Arriva managing director

Arriva managing director Piers Marlow today told journalists that a higher bus fare for tourists was in favour of locals who made regular use of public transport, and therefore were entitled to 'discounted prices'.

Speaking during a Q&A session with journalists, Marlow said the higher fares for non-residents, something Arriva was “very happy to support and suggest”, were settled during the negotiations which hammered out the final agreement.

“There is no reason to think that they won’t be valid,” Marlow said, adding that discounted fares for residents had “worked in other places.” He reaffirmed that the proposed scheme would only provide discounts to recurrent users, making no mention of the way it differentiates users based on their place of residence.

Asked what impact an EC ruling on discriminatory pricing would have on the contract - already finalised between government and the Arriva - Marlow confirmed that renegotiation would be called for. “Any change (in what was already agreed) would mean sitting down with the Transport Authority and ironing out a solution,” he said.

The European Commission has already said it will be investigating whether there might be a case of discrimination against tourists in Malta. Only days ago, the EC said it would be requesting further information in order to access the issue in detail. “The first paragraph of Article 18 of the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union prohibits, within the scope of application of the Treaty, and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein, any discrimination on grounds of nationality,” said lse Gordts, a spokesperson for Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas.

“Differential treatment could be justified only if it is based on objective considerations independent of the nationality of the persons concerned and if it is proportionate to the legitimate aim of the national provisions,” the Commission said.

Despite concerns by Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil to rethink the new bus fares because they could be illegal under EU law, Transport Minister Austin Gatt was unmoved.

While the Transport Ministry was reported as having “noted”, his concerns, there were no plans to revise the fares as government is in possession of “contrasting” legal advice and believed it was complying with the law. “If it is not, there are means for that law to be enforced,” a spokesman for Dr Gatt said.

The MHRA also slammed the proposed bus fares, citing them a “selective targeting of the tourist industry…”whether it is coming from the government or from a private company.”