Malta Public Transport is selling the 81 bendy buses it inherited from Arriva in an expression of interest that closes in a week.
The controversial bulky buses, which include three of the four that caught fire last August, are being sold in their current condition. It is also selling its stock of parts.
“Malta Public Transport Services (Operations) Limited is offering 81 Mercedes Citaro 18m articulated buses for sale in, and including stock of parts,” it said in an expression of interest issued yesterday and which closes on February 14.
Offers are to be made for the attention of the Chief Executive Officer and sent by e-mail on enquiries@publictransport.com.mt.
Malta Public Transport Services (Operations) Limited, which took over the operation of the public transport service in January when Arriva pulled out of Malta said it was offering no warranty or guarantees.
The 81 buses were manufactured between 2004 and 2005, and 75 of them were in service until last summer when the government ordered them off the roads after a series of fires.
The buses cannot be sold to anyone on the island as the expression of interest clearly states that the buses sold “must be removed from the company’s premises and shipped at the buyer’s expense within four weeks from the acceptance of the proposal made by the buyer.
“The buses are not to be kept in Malta and/or Gozo beyond four weeks from acceptance of the proposal,” it said.
“Failure to remove the goods within 28 days will result in the sale being automatically cancelled, the 25 per cent deposit forfeited and the goods sold to another purchaser,” the company said.
An investigation into fires on three bendy buses in August last year found that these were accidental although the possibility of arson was not ruled out.
The report, prepared by three fire experts, found that diesel leaks was the underlying cause of all fires.
The fourth fire on an Arriva bendy bus, which was engulfed in flames outside the Maltapost head office in Marsa, happened because of an electrical fault, according to a traffic expert appointed by a magistrate who held an inquiry into the massive fire that also damaged several of the postal company’s delivery vans.