On May 10, The Times 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 – the St Julians/Sliema-Valletta route – is crowded beyond capacity and chaos reigns supreme.”

The reporters of The Times made the same observations regarding the new bus service: “The long queues meant the buses were bursting at the seams once the right bus finally arrived... At a bus stop in St Julians, scores of waiting commuters stormed onto the bus squashing passengers against the vehicle’s glass panes.”

In my previous letter, I also wrote that “in July, riding a bus from Sliema to St Julians from 8 p.m. onwards is an ordeal as you’re jostled in a noisy bus packed like a can of sardines”. For The Times reporter, riding an Arriva bus was also an ordeal: “The bus from St Julians to Sliema was an unbearable mobile sauna... Crammed conditions only aggravated the glasshouse effect...”

I concluded my previous letter by writing that “it doesn’t make sense to start a new bus service during Malta’s summer madness and chaos. I think that Arriva should postpone the inauguration of their bus service till October, when things quieten down a bit...”

Arriva does not seem to listen to Malta’s bus users who experience on a daily basis the hassle of riding a bus in Malta. Arriva seems bent on learning its lessons the hard way, as the reporters of The Times so graphically reported in their write-ups.

Arriva’s big mistake in starting their new service during Malta’s summer madness was summed up in a caption under a front page photo in The Times: “An exasperated Arriva driver burying his head in his hands as people argued outside his bus.”