I’m a regular user of the St Julian’s-Valletta bus route, the busiest in Malta.

Over the last 20 years, I’ve witnessed all kinds of shortcomings and abuses on this route, including supposedly frequent buses that delay to show up, crowds waiting at the bus stops along the promenade, overcrowding on the buses, rude bus drivers and lack of supervision by superiors.

On May 10, 2011, before Arriva started its service, Times of Malta published a letter of mine in which I wrote: “I think Arriva is making a big mistake in starting their new bus service in July. They couldn’t have picked a worse time... In July, Malta’s busiest bus route is crowded beyond capacity and chaos reigns supreme.”

Chaos in public transport did, in fact, reign supreme that summer, as Times of Malta had reported on July 11: “The long queues meant the buses were bursting at the seams once the right bus finally arrived... At a bus stop in St Julian’s, scores of waiting commuters stormed onto the bus squashing passengers against the vehicle’s glass panes.”

A caption under a front page photograph read: “An exasperated Arriva driver burying his head in his hands as people argued outside his bus.”

It seems Autobuses de Leon, the new operator, will make the same mistake. Times of Malta reported that “the company will introduce changes gradually with the more radical developments happening in July” (January 10).

Common sense dictates that major changes in Malta’s public transport should be made before – and not during – the summer rush and the peak of the tourist season. Otherwise, on the St Julian’s-Valletta route, we’ll end up with the same chaotic conditions that we experienced in 2011.

I suggest that the new bus transport service should be fully operational by May, when the tourist season starts to pick up.