Arriva ‘continues to experience network disruption’

A spokesperson for Arriva said late on Monday the it “continued to experience network disruption further  to our update earlier today that we were running with driver shortages which affected our ability to provide all scheduled services.”

The spokesperson stressed that Arriva was prioritising getting buses on the road “to run the routes and take passengers where they want to go, but timetables have suffered.”

It added that Arriva experienced “some loading problems at Vallettaand sent extra resources.”

“I would like to thank passengers for their continued patience at this challenging time and assure them we are committed to delivering service improvements going forward,” she also said.

“We will be seeing the introduction of additional staff starting tomorrow which we hope will start to reduce the delays,” she added, referring to the 50-some UK bus drivers Arriva shipped to Malta to offset the last-minute staff shortages.

”Apologies once more to those who have experienced disruption,” she concluded.

Monday was marked by excessive waiting times, especially in the Floriana/Valetta interchange, where hundreds were left waiting in the sun for up to two hours.

One woman suffered heatstroke and had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance as there were no shelters that were adjacent to the bus stops which the public could use.