I am not an everyday user of public buses, but I have been without my car for the last four days due to a mechanical fault, and I had to rely on Arriva.

Unfortunately I went through some very bad experiences, like so many other bus users.

On August 10 at 10.35 p.m. my wife and I were at Bay 13 at the bus terminus in Valletta, waiting to board the No. 46 bus, which was scheduled to leave at 10.46 p.m.

There were already some 25 others waiting, but the bus did not turn up at 10.46 p.m. and in fact never turned up. I tried to phone Customer Care but the answer was that they are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

So I and some others tried to find someone from Arriva but there was no one and the office was closed, and we could only approach the bus drivers, who could do nothing .

Our only two options were to take the bus to Paceville and another to Fgura, which could have cost us €10 (when we already had the day ticket) or take a taxi for €15.

We took the latter option, as we were tired and we did not want to arrive home at 1.30 a.m.

This arrogant attitude by Arriva is intolerable. Arriva staff should stay on at the Valletta bus terminus until the last bus to every town departs.

Had there been an Arriva officer till 11 p.m. he could have seen that commuters were stranded in Bay 13. I expect an official explanation from Arriva on this matter.

Two days earlier we were walking towards the Jerma bus stop in Marsascala from where bus No. 93 was scheduled to leave at 8.11 p.m.

At 8 p.m. we were only a few metres from the bus stop but bus No. 93 just sped by and kept going, when it was supposed to leave the Jerma bus stop at 8.11 p.m. Not a good Arriva start for me, for sure!