Transport Malta is planning a new extension to existing rules regulating the lucrative car-hire business aimed at accommodating particular businesses, The Shift is informed.

Several operators, concerned about the latest developments, told this news portal that the Transport Ministry has directed the government regulator to prepare a draft legal notice extending, for the third time, the cut-off date banning the hire of old cars.

These manoeuvres are irking tens of legitimate operators who have invested hundreds of thousands of euro in new cars over the past few years to comply with rules issued in 2020. These operators are considering legal action against the regulator if the regulations are extended again, as this would give other operators a competitive business advantage.

The reform so far

In 2019, as part of a reform of the Public Service Garage rules, which regulate car hire operators, Transport Malta launched a consultation to improve the quality of service offered by the industry.

Through a legal notice published in 2020, it was established that, as of September 2022, allowing operators a two-year grace period to make the necessary adjustments, no cars with more than 15 years on the road would be allowed to be used for car hire operations.

These rules prompted many operators to update their fleets, or at least part of them, investing in newer cars.

However, come the cut-off date – September 2022 – nothing changed, and older cars continued to be available for hire.

Transport Malta defied its own rules, postponing their implementation three times in five years.

To make matters worse, in December 2022 – a full three months after the original deadline – Transport Malta justified the wrongdoers by issuing a new legal notice, extending the cut-off date by a further 24 months up to August 2024.

As this was not enough, last year, through the intervention of some Transport Malta officials, car hire operators were told to change their number plates to circumvent the law and gain more time to renew their cars’ annual road licence – effectively extending the August 2024 cut-off date by another year until the end of this month.

Asked whether Transport Malta would be extending the deadline again, both Transport Minister Chris Bonett and Transport Malta CEO Kurt Farrugia did not reply.

Neither did they comment on whether it was true that Transport Malta has already drafted a new legal notice extending the deadline again to accommodate certain operators.

Investigations by The Shift reveal that nearly all car hire operators in Malta and Gozo have invested in new cars to remain in business legally and comply with the latest regulations.

However, there are some exceptions, particularly in Gozo, where bookings for events are still being taken through the same old cars that were supposed to be discontinued at the end of this month.

According to some operators, this clearly suggests insider information from Transport Malta and is causing significant damage to their business operations.

As tourism has increased significantly in recent years, thousands of cars have been put on the car rental market. These, together with thousands of platform-chauffeur-driven cars, such as Bolt, continued to clog Malta’s restricted road network, as their introduction followed no plan.

Hundreds of third-country nationals were issued work permits to drive these cars at low labour rates, exacerbating the overpopulation problem on one of the world’s most densely populated islands.