Government to purchase Arriva buses

The government will be buying Arriva's shares and will take over all its assets, including the vehicles, transport minister Joe Mizzi said this afternoon.

Mizzi said that the government had not planned to cut its ties with Arriva but it was left with no other option, after months of negotiations proved fruitless.

He explained that Arriva will hand over operations to Transport Malta on 1 January, bringing to an end Arriva's disastrous experience in Malta. He however stressed that "worker's jobs will be safeguarded."

In reaction to the yesterday's criticism by the PN which slammed the government for leaving Arriva employees in a 'precarious and uncertain' position, Mizzi said that not only will the new transport system absorb all current Arriva employees but that "more drivers will be required."

"Had Arriva decided to liquidate its assets, which it certainly could have done, it would have meant that many people would have been left jobless," he argued.

"This is besides the inescapable fact that the country would have been left without a proper public bus service".

"The government intervened and saved such a scenario from occurring," he claimed.

Mizzi said that, with Arriva, the government was in a position where it was subsidising a service that was not up to scratch, whilst the company itself was also losing money.

"It was a lose-lose situation," he said.

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.

He said that the government's principle demands for the new service will centre on the routes, which he said were inadequate and needed urgent revision.

Asked whether bus owners who were involved in the pre-Arriva system would be involved, Mizzi simply said that "more buses and more workers will be required."

Mizzi said that whilst the transition "would not be an easy one", and stressed that there was need for collaboration between government, unions and the public on the matter.

Arriva have been struggling with losses totaling over €35 million since the start of their operations in 2011, with MaltaToday's information - which was not denied by Arriva Malta when faced with the figures - is that the company lost just under €16 million in 2011, and €20 million in 2012.