Malta Public Transport announced that the second batch of 40 new buses arrived today and they will be put into service this weekend. As promised, this followed the first batch of 40 new buses that arrived in July, bringing the total amount of new buses to 80 within just a month. The remaining 62 new buses will arrive in Malta in September bringing the total to 142 buses. With this batch of new buses, since the beginning of the year the company brought to Malta a total of 115 buses.

Over the past weeks, Malta Public Trasport has been under fire for delays in the service, as well as the unreliability of its schedule. Passengers have complained about waiting time which exceeded 90 minutes on certain popular routes as buses pass full-up. There have also been complaints about overcrowding on buses, faulty-airconditioning and a tallinja card service that has left commuters flustered because the system does not work properly.

In a statement, Malta Public Transport said that now that these additional 40 buses have arrived, the company will immediately be shipping 23 of the temporary buses that were leased last year, back to the UK. Unfortunately these buses had a problem since the air conditioning was not suitable for Malta particularly in the recent hot weeks. The company apologized for this inconvenience and thanked the public for their cooperation and patience throughout this transition, whilst reassuring them that it will continue to invest in a bus fleet which is more suitable for Malta.

These buses were specifically built for Malta by Turkish company Otokar and technical people from Malta Public Transport have been inspecting these vehicles rigorously throughout the manufacturing process.  The new buses are 9.6 metres long and slightly narrower than the majority of the previous fleet which is now being replaced. The new length will improve the flexibility for the operation as the buses will be able to manoeuvre better on certain routes.

These buses are low floor, providing easy access for wheelchair and pushchairs. They have two doors, intended to allow people to board and alight efficiently therefore reducing boarding time. The buses have a capacity of 60 passengers. They are equipped with Euro 6 engines, the very latest standards for environmentally friendly public transport.