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Matthew Vella
The refusal to allow open-top double-deckers on Maltese roads, a bone of contention between private operators Garden of Eden and the Transport Authority (ADT), has been acknowledged by the European Commission as a safety matter in the hands of the Maltese authorities.
Following informal consultations, the Commission’s transport directorate general advised that if the ADT considers these vehicles as high risk from a Maltese “road and urban environment point of view”, Malta can adopt provisions and provide for checks to guarantee road safety.
The issue for the licensing of open-tops in Malta reached the European Parliament when Enterprise and Industry Commissioner Gunther Verheugen told Labour MEP Joseph Muscat (PES) that the prohibition of licences for the operation of these coaches was “without doubt, an obstacle to the operation of the internal market because these vehicles are legally authorised in the other Member States.”
The Transport Ministry has however declared that open-top double-deckers, imported into Malta by private operators Garden of Eden in the early 1990s, had never been registered and licensed by the authorities. The buses were originally manufactured in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s as conventional double-decker buses at a typical UK height of 4.38m, subsequently being converted into open-top buses by removal of their roofs.
This resulted in their vehicle height being practically reduced to under four metres, which in the opinion of the Transport Ministry, posed a safety risk since an adult standing up on the top deck would have his upper body protruding well above the front windscreen, over the maximum authorised height of four metres.
Garden of Eden’s legal advisors had written to the ADT informing them of the Commission’s opinion, saying Verhugen had been “eloquent and clear enough”, and called on the chairman to issue the required permits.
According to Verhuegen, Malta cannot prohibit the circulation of double-decker buses in its territory if these are licensed in other Member States. The maximum height of buses cannot exceed four metres.
MEP Joseph Muscat’s question to the Commission had in fact claimed that the Maltese authorities had allowed double-decker buses which had been registered and licensed in Germany to enter Malta with foreign tourists, whilst the Maltese authorities did not allow similar vehicles, with reference to Garden of Eden’s protests.
As an EU Member State, Malta must allow full market access for passenger transport vehicles registered and licensed in the EU and which are being used as part of an international journey.
These vehicles must however conform to the maximum four-metre height apart from other dimensions.
The Transport Ministry in fact said the authorities had permitted entry of the German bus since it was in full conformity with EU dimensions, but that the open-top buses in question posed a safety issue.
The ADT is now examining its policy on the use of open top double-deckers for tourism, a ministry spokesperson said.
“It is examining international vehicle construction requirements and other safety aspects relating to open top double-decker buses. In addition an assessment is being carried out on the market potential for the operation of such a service in Malta, the impact such a service may have on other passenger transport sectors and the type of contract such services could be operated under.”
Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett had said in Parliament earlier that he disagreed with having an open market for double-decker coaches for as long as all the other sectors of public transport remained closed, where various monopolies and closed sectors in the transport sector still exist, such as route buses, taxis, coaches and hearses.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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