The Arriva debacle had two architects, Arriva and Transport Malta.

It was TM which allowed the ‘bendies’ to commute through roads and streets that were unsuitable for their size.

Was it not TM which did not make provisions for existing bus stops to be modified to accommodate larger buses, not only the ‘bendies’, resulting in increased congestion because the new buses do not fit into a large proportion of bus stops?

Was it not TM which did not have the knowledge that Bisazza Street was about to be pedestrianised, while the rest of the country did, resulting in an embarrassing and farcical situation for the government of the day?

Is it not TM which is responsible for roads, management, but can’t seem to get to grips with the growing congestion on our roads?

Is it not TM which is also responsible for vehicle emission reporting but was twice exposed as ignoring the hundreds, if not thousands of sms’s sent in over the years to report excessive vehicle emissions.

The public still feels betrayed by that blatant failure and has lost trust in reporting. And by the way, we still don’t have random spot checks for vehicle emissions. Why not?

Is it not TM which manages and co-ordinates the organised mooring of sea craft in bays? What we have today is a free for all, in all bays in Malta and Gozo.

Up until a year or so ago TM wasn’t even issuing applications for temporary moorings, let alone processing them, as it realised that it had let the situation completely slip out of its control.

These are but a few a few random examples that come to mind. Is this not incompetence, is this not cluelessness? So much for the ‘super authority’ you mention.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140608/local/-Write-positive-stories-on-agriculture-urges-parliamentary-secretary-Galdes.522372?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Transport Malta was created as a “super authority” regulating all modes of transport and combining Malta Maritime Authority, Malta Transport Authority and the Civil Aviation Department.

The authority is responsible for maritime registration and ship inspections, which is the largest in the EU, all sea transport, quays and terminals construction including the Gozo ferry terminals and harbour-dredging and breakwater maintenance at the Freeport, regulation of all road transport including liberalisation of the taxi service, vehicle registration, driving tests and of course public transport, as well as all road-building works and resurfacing of roads.

It is responsible for aircraft registration and the fledgling industry of civil aviation which has attracted to Malta significant investment, and which could in future be as important as the maritime industry .

Unfortunately public perception of Transport Malta revolves solely on the difficult situation with Arriva, which truthfully underperformed as a contractor. Of course the negative perception was greatly enhanced by the media.

Dott Abjad does not appear to have full knowledge of the above facts.

Saviour Balzan gives Muscat a trashing in his editorial and among other things states “Muscat’s behaviour is bordering on extreme arrogance”.

Malta today also locks horns with Transport Malta’s chief, James Piscopo.

The Sunday Times reveals Lou Bondi’s package at €54K plus a further €8,000 for “operational expenditure ” totalling €62K, which prompts me to ask what Franco Debono’s package is as compensation for bringing down the government.

Using Lou Bondi’s package as a benchmark, anything less than €100K would be an insult. Also, is this package greater than Jason Micallef’s at V18?

And The Sunday Times has such a scoop with this story, but it only made it to page 5 – and the newspaper did not bother to do a tabular with some benchmarking with the PM’s salary, the Chief Justice’s salary or the Attorney General’s salary. Does Times of Malta/The Sunday Times have any journalists anymore?

Finally I must not miss out on Magistrate Anthony Vella’s judgement that non-payment of VAT to the VAT Department is not misappropriation. Perhaps Mr Justice Vella is unaware that VAT collection is done by the operator on behalf of the VAT Department – so his analogy in his judgement that the “VAT department did not give the defendant any money, and therefore the defendant is not bound to give it back” is completely flawed. (Malta Today page 42).

Yet the PN does not call for Joe Mizzi’s resignation no matter how symbolic that may be.

God knows what they are waiting for.

If they wait any longer they’re going to risk seeming positive.

And no-one complains. Imagine what would have happened if it was 2 years ago.

I am sure now that this language school (as are all the others) have put their mind at rest that now their students will arrive on time for their lessons, thanks to the immaculate public transport service our government is offering.

This summer I will be teaching with a leading English school in Malta. I will be stationed at a government school in Msida.

The majority of the host families this school works with are located in the Sliema/St. Julians area, so students obviously have to use public transport to travel from their residence to the school.