Some weeks before Arriva started to operate in Malta, I wrote in this newspaper: “So will we have perfectly prudent and pleasant bus drivers come July 2011? The anticipation is killing me.”

Everybody knows the outcome.

We are now making another attempt at having a good bus service – albeit a much more expensive one. A subsidy of €23 million means that every man, women and child will contribute about €57 per annum whether they use buses or not.

The quantum of the announced fare rise is still the country’s best kept secret.

Can the Minister of Transport say, at least, whether the additional cost of, say, a five-day-week bus commuter will be under or in excess of the 58c COLA increase, bearing in mind that 5.8c are deducted as social security contribution and some people will pay income tax on that too?

I wonder how the subsidy will be spent by the operating company? Unless the bus drivers are decently paid we will never, ever have good drivers. It is simple logic.

If you don’t have much to lose you just don’t bother. Forget the niceties of pride, professionalism or accountability. Over 100 drivers did not turn up for work on the first day of Arriva’s operation. Isn’t that a clear message?

The capital punishment for bad behaviour is dismissal. Has a bus driver ever contested his dismissal seriously in an Industrial Tribunal? No, they just move on to another low-paid job. You can never control employees who are not motivated to retain their job.

Of all the shortcomings a bus service may have, arrogant drivers hurt (sometimes literally) the patrons most. They are very counterproductive to our booming tourism industry.

This time, we have to get it right.