Arriva said today that “public transport services have improved considerably since the company commenced on 3 July.”

Arriva continued by saying it “has focused on working to achieve improvements through the application of service delivery and enhancement plans which management put in place to monitor and enforce service standards. Arriva’s team of mobile service standard managers, interchange inspectors and the central control room have been targeting control and command of service provision, supervision of drivers in service, monitoring and regulation of services and timely intervention, management of key interchanges and bus stations, supervision of driver change overs, and timely application of additional resource as appropriate.”

Managing Director Keith Bastow said, “Delivering improvements for passengers has been our primary focus, at the same time as working hard behind the scenes to put the network changes in place as requested by Transport Malta. We have strengthened teams out on the roads, putting in extra resource with significant focus on identifying and solving issues and potential issues, and assisting and updating passengers.”

“Indeed, passenger confidence appears to have returned during August as service improvements were delivered, with the new public transport operator citing passenger growth of around 20 per cent compared to the number of public transport passengers at this time last year.” he said.

Mr Bastow commented, “Services have demonstrably improved and we are pleased to see an overall marked improvement in reliability from our records, reinforced by fewer customer complaints and encouraging feedback from the public reporting better service experience. Early indications are that we carried around 20 per cent more passengers than the previous operator did in the similar period last year, which whilst it is too early to be representative of any wider trends, is very encouraging.”

“Queries, feedback and complaints have kept Arriva’s Customer Care Centre busy, with almost 65,000 calls since 3 July.”Mr Bastow continued “the average number of daily customer complaints falling to 132 in August – less than a quarter of a per cent of those who travelled – as a further sign of perceived improvements.”

Mr Bastow spoke of the “introduction of the 10 new Optare Hybrid buses which can now be seen operating around Malta and Gozo, and the positive reception the easy-access fleet has had from customers who say they have been able to travel by bus for the first time in many years thanks to the user-friendly low floor easy access, ramps, priority seating and wheelchair bays. “The reaction to our drivers and the new standards of customer service on buses has attracted praise from passengers – I am very proud of our team and want to thank the drivers and other employees who have worked so hard to help us turn things around and improve services for our passengers.”

!Whilst recognising developments and achievements,” Mr Bastow went on, “I acknowledge there is still work to do. We are monitoring the network closely in preparation for any potential issues which may arise anywhere, at any time – and we are still learning to better deal with difficult situations where roads are closed for periods of time, such as the ministerial visit from the Czech Republic this week.”

He also identified a small number of challenging routes where improvement work is ongoing. For example, Arriva will continue to focus extra resource on routes 11, 12 and 13, 31 and 91 which can suffer delays from congestion and from overcrowding issues at certain times. Mr Bastow said, “We will continue to monitor and address challenges on these routes, including committing additional buses at busy times where possible. We will continue to monitor emerging trends into September and this coming season and will work hard to alleviate the challenges. He added, that Route 41 which has also met with high demand, “should be assisted by the introduction of the new X6 limited stop, fast service from Cirkewwa/ Mellieha to Valletta.”

Arriva operates under contract to Transport Malta who is responsible for setting and specifying routes. Arriva said that over the last weeks, MITC, Transport Malta and Arriva have held positive meetings regarding routes, and have engaged with interested parties including councils to feed into the process, with comments received from customers and drivers, and feedback received via Arriva’s customer care channels fed in to Transport Malta.

Ahead of implementing Phase 2 of the network changes sanctioned by Transport Malta tomorrow, Mr Bastow confirmed that more than 160 new drivers have been recruited and trained since July, referring to a “strong applicant pipeline” with the current programme of recruitment and training should be fulfilled in October. Approximately 70 drivers from elsewhere in the Arriva group are still in Malta – a reduction from 120 at peak. This number will continue to be reduced over coming weeks as the newly trained drivers enter service.

A leaflet detailing tomorrow’s changes has been sent to all households in Malta and Gozo. Further information is available from Arriva’s website www.arriva.com.mt or by calling the Customer Care Centre on 21 22 2000.

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