After spending a day on the Arriva buses Fiona Galea Debono decides to wait another week before she considers ditching her car.

It was confusion at every corner as a nation that is averse to change and prone to complain struggled to reach destinations on a reformed bus service that failed to deliver the expected improvements, yesterday.

Running late, Arriva’s arrival was characterised by detours, long waits, longer and even missing journeys, which the company attempted to prepare passengers for due to the driver shortfall and resulting network disruption.

Some advocated patience, understanding it was Arriva’s second day of operation, and hoping drivers “not prepared to work would be fired”. But the public’s general attitude was intensely negative and the tension was taut and tangible as they faced delays and felt at a loss.

At every stop, buses were welcomed by a barrage of questions from disgruntled commuters, who did not know whether they were coming or going. To add to their frustration, drivers and Arriva officials did not always have the answers but without their input the situation would have been even more chaotic.

The service was far from clockwork and publicised to-the-minute timetables were thrown to the wind as travellers waited in the heat for hours – even three – in the dark on how to get to their destination and, especially, by when.

The chaos was increased by the fact that buses did not have numbers and routes and destinations on display were not necessarily correct. It meant drivers had to explain where they were heading – if they knew the answers themselves – and the bewildered public could not even tell what bus had zoomed by.

On the ground, exasperated officials tried to cope with the queries and criticism from every corner, consulting their papers to keep the peace. But they too lacked the information they were meant to provide, even sending commuters to Valletta to “ask there”.

The bus from St Julians to Sliema was an “unbearable” mobile sauna as the air conditioner was not working. Neither was the ticket machine, which meant only a single fare of 50c could be purchased and another day ticket of €1.50 had to be bought on the next trip.

The bell of the new and better buses did not function either, so alighting – dripping wet – at the Ferries was a touch-and-go affair.

The long queues meant the buses were bursting at the seams once the right one finally arrived and they were allowed to board – unless they faced an irate driver, yelling it was “full up!” Crammed conditions only aggravated the glasshouse effect and were less acceptable in view of the high expectations.

At the Ferries, language barriers did not ease the situation and one official did not know what Vittoriosa was, shunning the question on how to get there until he was asked for directions to Birgu.

At Mater Dei Hospital, workers said they had left at 7 a.m. to arrive almost two hours later on a journey that normally lasted 15 minutes. They had no clue how to get back and were advised to head for Valletta and take it from there, rather than go direct. The previous system, connecting the hospital, should have remained unchanged, they maintained.

“They should not have started until everything was ready,” said Graham Saunders, who works by the hospital and was pleased about the two trips, as opposed to one, per hour. His first experience, though, led him to think he could be better off going by car.

“We were living in hell anyway with the old buses and could have endured it a bit longer,” he maintained. On to Paola on the airport bus, the stop at the Qormi station took its time for the changing of the guard, where exhausted officials were scurrying about, trying to guide lost and grumbling travellers.

“Every 10 minutes, they told us,” shouted a woman at the Paola stop as the bus arrived, greeted by more irritation.

From Paola to Vittoriosa, commuters had been waiting for a whole hour until a bus came their way, following incessant attempts by the official to call the company.

When it arrived, passengers were allowed on for free and it is questionable how many paid their fare on other routes, given the disorder and the ultimate aim being to get them from A to B.

“We’ll soon be running around with a map,” said one passenger, summing up the disoriented state of mind that dominated the day.

No buses have passed through Vittoriosa’s main square, despite the new bus stop, since the service started. At the Riche bus stop up the road, the sign is too good to be true too: a bus is supposed to go direct to St Julians on a 44-minute trip every hour on the hour. It arrives on the dot – at 2 p.m. – but it is not the expected one. In fact, its destination is not even listed on the sign.

After 30 minutes, heading for Valletta seems the more sensible option and a random bus is caught to the terminus at the capital – a hive of commotion, with travellers moving around like headless chickens and officials equally aimless.

Some things never change

The Arriva drivers may have been looking dapper but a leopard can never change its spots and a shirt and tie may not be enough to polish up their act.

Overwhelmed by stress and frustration as they grappled to detach the reformed bus service from the old, while dealing with the early days’ teething problems and compensating for their absent colleagues, the usual altercations and diatribes could be heard echoing round the corner of the bendy buses.

“Move back, please,” they ordered impatiently to be sure no one would miss the old bus service too much.

Bells rang to deaf ears and buses skipped stops as a result, only to grind to a sudden halt when frantic passengers pleaded to be let off. Doors opened and closed haphazardly and complaints were countered rudely.

Buses zoomed past frustrated queues, leaving them feeling stranded. They halted indiscriminately, letting passengers off on corners but not stopping for others.

Manoeuvring into the bus bays, so cars behind could proceed, was not a thing of the past and is still not always part of the present.

Communication remains an issue, with some drivers unable to speak English – and others unable to speak Maltese! There were also those who could speak neither.

The doors are not opened for the guy who arrives a second too late – and he is left waiting for the improved Arriva service.