Arriva to employ 240 new local drivers by mid-September

“In the past few weeks, UK drivers have been brought from abroad and by the end of this week there will be 100 on the road,” Arriva's Managing Director Keith Bastow said, adding that currently, 80 such drivers are already at work.

He said that by mid-September Arriva expects its driving staff to be at full working employment, having employed and trained 240 new local drivers.

Bastow described this as a very important milestone and said that Arriva has been registering sustainable, noticeable progress in this regard.

He reported that in the past few days Arriva has also increased its training capacity and by increasing local staff compliment to ensure that training facilities will be enough to train Maltese drivers.

“We are still a long way from where we need to be as it needs demonstrable progress to get there,” Bastow said.

Out of the 220 ex-ATP drivers who had committed to transfer to Arriva Malta 14 days before contract start, Bastow confirmed that only 81 are working for Arriva today.

He added that only 110 ex-ATP drivers who appeared during the first week of the new operation, the rest having pulled a no-show. These, he told the media, had “terminated their own contract” by not showing up.

Asked about Transport Malta’s revised routes announced last week, Bastow was cautious.

He noted that TM had made the announcement following suggestions made by the public and other stakeholders and said that it was always Arriva’s position that recalibration of routes was necessary.

“We looked specifically at some journeys which suffered issues of length and older journeys that where no longer present in the new network,” he said.

Bastow was also asked by MaltaToday to explain what policy Arriva had in place for drivers to differentiate between those commuters who qualify for the resident fares (which are subsidised by government) and tourists, who would be charged the full scheme.

Bastow would only say that for a commuter to qualify for the subsidies fare (i.e. residents), proof of residence would have to be provided. He also pointed out that Arriva had nothing to do with the fare system, saying that it was determined by Transport Malta.

He however added that in future, there will be schemes put in place so that commuter residence and identification would be checked before boarding, to ensure that boarding times are streamlined.

MaltaToday also asked Bastow about Arriva’s hiring practices regarding UK and Maltese bus drivers, following reports of Maltese drivers being told to cover up any tattoos while some UK drivers were allowed to sport theirs openly.

Bastow categorically denied that Arriva was differentiating between Maltese and UK drivers, insisting there was a “common standard” applied to all.

He however said that “UK drivers were all relocated and placed into service at short notice,” confirming that there were a couple instances “which were rectified immediately.”

“There is no differentiation between Maltese and UK bus drivers,” he reiterated.

Bastow also defended Arriva’s choice to deploy articulated (bendy-buses) on Maltese roads, despite reports of breakdowns, instances where these were stuck, and 4even reports of overheating.

“We are 100% certain that the mixed fleet is the correct one,” he said, adding that this was evident from how the bendy buses had addressed heavy usage on certain central routes.

Pressed by the media regarding recurring reports of buses overheating, Bastow said that the problem, which had occurred throughout the fleet and not exclusively to the articulated buses, “was found not to be endemic and has since been resolved.”

Asked about whether the King Longs (the brand that the Arriva fleet predominantly relies upon) is more prone to overheating, Piers Marlow denied any link or any lasting issues with the King Long buses.

Bastow also confirmed references made by Transport Minister Austin Gatt in parliament earlier during day, where he said that Arriva would be presenting a report on how to improve its service.

Bastow said that a “detailed action plan” has been developed through cooperation with Transport Malta, adding that “this will put us where we want to be.”