Bus service death throes

The public transport service in Malta was never particularly efficient, but it seems to have been worsening by the day over the last few months.

Commuters in central areas, such as Sliema, Birkirkara and Msida, have frequently had to wait over 45 minutes for a bus to arrive.

It is usually the case that when a bus does deign to move towards its destination, it fills up quickly from the first crowded bus stops and therefore passes by several other crowded ones without picking up any more commuters, increasing their waiting time and corresponding frustration.

Twice, a bus driver leaned from his window shouting a comment about how much longer we’ll have to wait when the Arriva service is in place (“U, kemm fadlilkom x’tistennew iktar la jidħlu l-oħrajn!”), which is symptomatic of comments bus drivers typically make about the new Arriva service, which one shrugs off as attempts at scaremongering rather than promises of sabotage.

One assumes that the ever-increasing waiting time is due to our dear bus drivers taking the last few months of their “public” monopoly easily, at best, or committing their last acts of vengeance on their oft-disdained customers, at worst.