Buses in Malta

Buses were introduced to Malta in 1905. Up until 2011, the traditional Malta bus (Maltese: xarabank or karozza tal-linja) served as a popular tourist attraction for its unique appearances. By the end of this operation, Malta had several unserviceable buses.

The unique nature of the Malta bus stemmed from the tradition of local ownership by the drivers. The buses' unique appearances, full of details and decorations, were from a practice of in-house maintenance. This included rebuilding or modifying the bus bodies in local workshops. As a result, the buses served as popular tourist attractions. Newer Malta buses were continuously introduced to meet rising tourism, which followed modern standard bus designs found in other parts of the world. The practice of customisation still continued for these newer buses as well.

On 3 July 2011, the network of service bus routes across Malta was taken over by Arriva, with traditional buses reduced to operating on only special heritage services. Arriva introduced a fleet of modern low-floor buses, which were imported secondhand ex-London articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaros. These low-floor buses from the old fleet were retained and repainted in Arriva colours. Arriva also purchased a fleet of brand new King Long rigid buses.

Arriva's operation in Malta was beset by problems. Three fires within a 48-hour period in August 2013 prompted the Maltese government to ban the Citaros buses from operation in the country pending an investigation. Arriva's operation in Malta continued until 1 January 2014, when the nation's bus network was nationalised as Malta Public Transport. On 8 January 2015, Malta Public Transport was reprivatised as it was sold to Autobuses Urbanos de León, an Alsa subsidiary which retained the Malta Public Transport brand name. The company doubled the bus fleet, which now consists of more than 400 buses.

Malta Public Transport has invested extensively in modernising its bus fleet to make it safer, more environmentally friendly, and comfortable. The company invested in 200 new buses that utilise Euro 6 diesel technology. The buses are cleaned and maintained regularly, and are equipped with air-conditioning systems. All new buses have two doors to facilitate boarding and alighting of passengers.