After bus owners were regaled with €100,000 for their licences, perhaps that’s why their windshields sport stickers reading ‘stuff your jealousy’. But Public Transport Association president VICTOR SPITERI still claims it was the bus owners who really got stuffed.
David Darmanin
Public Transport Association (ATP) president Victor Spiteri has recently compared bus owners queuing outside the former Sea Malta offices in Marsa to sign for compensation in return for their buses and operating licences, to Jews lining up outside Auschwitz concentration camp. Quite a careless rendition of the Holocaust, given that the money promised to bus owners will set Malta’s taxpayers back a further €53 million. Not exactly comparable to World War II ethnic cleansing.
What Spiteri must have meant is that bus owners never wanted to be bought out in the first place. Soon after Austin Gatt succeeded Jesmond Mugliett as Transport Minister in March 2008, Spiteri says Gatt told ATP officials that he would submit fresh proposals for a transport reform by July 2008, and that if no agreement was reached before December 2008 he would “buy them out of the way”. All this, after the association had drafted a contract with Mugliett for bus owners to be split into 10 small private companies, with each company being responsible for specific bus routes.
In November 2008, Gatt wrote to the ATP saying a previous idea to split bus owners into 10 SMEs had been excluded, contrary to what had been agreed with Mugliett. “It seems that this decision was taken because we were pushing for the association to remain acting as a central office for these SMEs. Apparently, this was not allowed by EU law – but had this been refused by the European Commission, we would have of course still accepted to split into SMEs, without the central office. But government just made a decision without consulting us.”
Instead Gatt moved ahead with the liberalisation of motor hearses, minibuses, coaches “and after those – the ones who come next”, Spiteri adds. “We rightly assumed Gatt wanted to opt for the tender option to liberalise public transport. It was evident that he was not going to nationalise the sector, as would have been equally permitted by the EU.”
Spiteri says this was why the ATP led the infamous 2008 public transport strike – timed at the peak of the tourist season. If bus owners had a bad reputation in the first place, the strike did nothing but augment negative public sentiment towards them.
“The strike was not organised for us to get a higher or a lower compensation in the first place. We never wanted the buy-out to happen – this was purely government’s doing. We decided to go on strike because the minister decided for our future without consulting us. We bought the buses ourselves. This is our own investment we’re talking about. I am aware that public perception was not in our favour – but I feel that we had every right to make our voices heard. Just look at any other EU country – look at what is happening in Greece. People stand up to defend their rights. I see nothing wrong with that.”
Once the association resigned itself to liberalisation, Spiteri commissioned an audit firm to value the investment to be bought out. “The calculation could not have been based on just the coaches. There is a strong element of goodwill that needed to be taken into account.”
The association proceeded to ask Gatt for €209,644 for every one of the old buses, and €232,937 for every low-floor bus. Initially, Gatt made a counter-offer of €81,000 for every bus.
“We insisted for the amount to be raised, so we were presented by Gatt with a final offer of €98,000 for conventional buses and €110,000 for new ones,” he said. “We were not happy with the amount offered, so we asked to meet the Prime Minister – who in turn offered €103,000 for every bus – which works out pretty much the same as Gatt’s offer if you look at it cumulatively.”
Meanwhile, a consortium was created between the Tumas Group and the bus owners, who were offered 10% of shares in return of their goodwill, to form a company that would tender for the newly liberalised transport service. But what does this mean now that they gave up their bus licences?
“At this point, we are waiting to discuss new terms to see what exactly is required from us within this consortium. From there, bus owners will decide whether or not to keep their 10% share.”
Spiteri said he has no clue on what exactly will be happening to the ATP itself once the reform takes off. “There could be a situation where bus owners decide to invest in different areas of the transport sector (like coaches or minibuses) and would still want to be represented by the ATP,” he said. “Or we could become a house union. The majority of our current members however are not interested in operating in the transport sector anymore.”
Spiteri’s mood turns to the worse when I ask him whether last October’s media coverage on his pending criminal charges for defilement had weakened his position as a negotiator. He blows his top.
“Listen up, if this is going to turn personal let’s stop this interview right here,” he said. “Had I had no say in the negotiations, no agreement would have been reached in the first place. There have been many attempts to tarnish my name so that I stop defending the future of my family and that of 350 bus owners. It would have been far easier for me to step down at the first attempt to stop me, but I did not. You mention a case where the proceedings are still going. Let the case come to a close, then I will talk – but I’ll tell you one thing: the media decided to publish my name with a specific purpose in mind.”
But that’s not just Spiteri’s only trouble. At the peak of the bus strike, MaltaToday splashed Spiteri’s face caught on CCTV loitering outside Austin Gatt’s house with a gang of bus drivers in the night.
“I think this is very unfair. The footage of me standing there is still on the internet today. I had no intention of being there. On that day, I was at the airport – and the police can testify to this. While I was at the airport, I received a phone call saying that a group of bus owners and drivers were marching up and down Republic Street – so I went there to ensure that everything remains under control. In fact, upon my arrival, I assisted the police as protestors were not obeying orders to remove a banner bearing the words ‘flimkien kollox possibli’ on the door of the President’s Palace. I convinced them to take it off. I knew there were cameras there. My only motive for being there was to ensure that no incidents would happen. The police know this. Even the minister himself must know because he had nothing to say about the matter.”
It seems Spiteri has an axe to grind with the press. Next to be shot down was a recent column by managing editor Saviour Balzan. “If Balzan thinks that buses are still bought by rich people, tell him he’s completely wrong. Buses are no longer purchased by bakers or quarry owners. The majority of new owners are young – who have taken out hefty loans to support their investment.”
He may be right, but it is unfortunate that this new blood did hardly anything to improve public perception on bus drivers’ behaviour.
“Let’s be fair. The public has a negative image of the operators of the public bus service. But ultimately, who is the real operator? Three-fourths of what happened in public transport was decided by government, and as a result, drivers and owners were treated badly and given very severe conditions to work in. Why are we to blame if government policy did not work?”
Does this give some of Malta’s public bus drivers the right to swear, give wrong change, and mistreat or even manhandle tourists?
“Now imagine if we were all educated in this country,” Spiteri puts up his defence. “Imagine if every bus owner or driver had a law degree, studied architecture or was a magistrate – do you honestly think that they would still choose to work in this sector under these conditions? This reform will at least bring better working conditions. To date, there are no rooms where drivers can rest and the hours are atrocious.
“It is the Public Transport Authority that issues or takes away licences – we have absolutely no power in the regard. Some years back we had a problematic driver who was even aggressive with passengers. We wanted him out, but since the ADT did nothing about it, we had to go as far as suspending the route he was working on to get it our way.”
Government’s pledge to bus owners went beyond the €53 million. The jobs of all players, be they owners or drivers, have been guaranteed for the next 10 years – even if only a minimum wage was offered.
“The job guarantee offer is laughable,” Spiteri said. “My take is that out of the 600 current employees in public transport – only about 200 will be interested in working with the new operators. But my calculations are that the new contractor will require 700 staff every day to be able to conduct the envisaged routes. I have no idea where they intend getting all these people from, especially on that wage.”
Moving on… Over the past 10 years, less people have used public transport in Malta – and this seriously goes against European trend. Spiteri was asked to explain.
“We have short routes in Malta, so it is understood that cars will always be more popular than in other countries. In Malta, even if you offer the most luxurious and efficient transport and make it free, you will still not convince motorists to use public transport – that’s the way it is. Besides, most people who rely on public transport in the EU do not use the bus – because other countries have the underground, the tram, trains or other means that do not exist in Malta. Mind you, when it comes to tourist routes, you can still offer a frequent service because there is the demand. But in many villages, it will just not work to offer public transport as an alternative to taking your car.”
Victor Spiteri has frequently opined about unpopular routes that end up working at a loss. He reckons that now that the sector will be liberalised, there will be little room for social conscience. Whoever they may be, the new contractors will have a business to run.
“The reform will surely be effective in the first three years because operators will have to work on fixed conditions – and will not be allowed to increase fees, for instance,” Spiteri said. “They will also have to keep working on unpopular routes. But I am more than sure that all this will be revised by the new operators after the three years would have elapsed.”
He says he believes in a reform, but not this way. “I have worked incessantly on a public transport reform for the past years – but the implementation needs to make sense if we want this to work,” he said.
“I think in three years’ time it will be the public to judge for itself whether or not it would not have been better to nationalise the service. Government could have nationalised it by keeping owners as shareholders – but it chose not to.”
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