50 new busses will join Malta’s public transport fleet in an €11 million investment the aim of which being to reduce Malta’s carbon footprint.
This initiative was announced during a press conference on Friday morning.
Malta Public Transport Chairman Felipe Cosmen said that over the past five years in which the company has been active, around €50 million has already been invested in order to provide an efficient and environmentally friendly service.
He explained that this €11 million investment to bring in 50 new busses to replace old ones will further help the company deliver on its mission.
“COVID-19, which saw a drastic reduction in emissions, was a wakeup call for us to reduce the carbon footprint and we immediately started working on it,” he said.
Transport Minister Ian Borg acknowledged these efforts, saying that this new addition will keep the public transport fleet younger and cleaner.
He also mentioned that the new busses are 12 meters in length which will increase the capacity and efficiency of public transport which, according to statistics, is in high demand once again.
“Before the pandemic we had 81,000 people using public transport daily but this number decreased during the pandemic. Yesterday, we reached the 100,000 daily users mark and, considering that only a small number of tourists have come to Malta by now, this shows that the Maltese public makes a lot of use of alternative means of transport,” Borg explained.
Prime Minster Robert Abela added to this by saying that if the pandemic had not occurred, this year was going to be a record for public transport in Malta as in the first two months alone 4 million passengers were recorded per month.
“The figures we are seeing now that the pandemic has subsided are encouraging”, he said.
“Today’s investment is not only about the buses but about the realisation of our mission to provide transport that is environmentally sustainable, he added, pointing out that the engines these new busses use are type Euro 6 which are less damaging than the ones found in older busses.