British expert asked to consider proposals

The Malta Transport Authority has invited UK transport expert Malcolm Buchanan to help in the evaluation of the different reform measures being proposed to the authority on public transport in Malta.

The authority said it would shortly be launching discussions with the public transport sector to finalise plans for the much needed overhaul of the scheduled public transport service.

Prof. Buchanan was adviser to the UK government over the deregulation of the British bus industry and has been extensively involved in the planning of public transport systems in various localities in the UK.

In recent years, as managing director of the transport and planning consultancy firm Colin Buchanan and Partners, he has also provided specific international expertise in this field to various governments, transport authorities and bus companies in Kuwait, the Netherlands, Shanghai, Dublin, Oslo, Trentino, Trinidad, Bombay and Caracas. In 1998, Colin Buchanan and Partners were also commissioned by DG-Tren of the European Commission to draw up a comparative study of scheduled bus services in Community member states.

Prof. Buchanan is already familiar with the transport system in Malta as in 1989/90 he was chairman of the supervisory board for the preparation of the structure plan for the Maltese Islands.

During this period, he headed a team of specialists that investigated the problems of public transport in Malta and made recommendations for the short, medium and long-term improvement of the bus service.

The recommendations were approved as government policy in 1990.

The structure plan had envisaged that public transport would continue to be provided primarily by bus and minibus but anticipated that there was likely to be a role for new ferry services to provide improved access to Valletta and that there might be a case for light rail or tram rapid transit systems with underground sections.

The plan had identified various needs including:

¤ the need for an innovative, market-oriented, bus operation and the implications which this requirement has for ownership structure, competition policy and the regulatory framework within which services are currently provided;

¤ the need to eliminate passenger overloading, cut waiting times and improve reliability;

¤ the need to increase revenue from tourists;

¤ the need for a faster, and fraud-free, fare payment system;

¤ the need to use subsidy or cross subsidy only in order to provide services that would not otherwise be economical; and

¤ the need to replace the current fleet with buses suitable to the special conditions of climate, urban and rural operation and the narrow congested streets.