I would like to know why, after Arriva have been in charge of the local bus transport system for 10 days, this so-called service is nothing short of an abuse of local and foreign passengers alike. All routes on the new system are nothing short of a travesty regarding accessibility by passengers to their desired destination and time taken to get there. You can no longer blame the 50 or 60 drivers who failed to report for duty on day one for this ongoing debacle. Why were there not enough back-up crews employed to cover this, and any other shortfall of services that may have occurred on July 3 every day since then? Who is responsible for this abusive lack of forward planning, which, quite frankly, my 16-year-old daughter foresaw in the run-up to the handover of “services”.

Since July 3 I have met many foreign tourists from all over Europe and beyond who are visiting Malta for the first time and who will now never return to the island, as this “new, improved” bus system has permanently scarred their impression of Malta. To think that Malta relies so heavily on the tourist industry for its national income this disgraceful practice by Arriva and the transport authority is nothing short of suicidal to future national income.

Arriva’s tagline of “here to take you there” is an insult to anyone of intelligence. Please define “here” and “there” in the concept of Arriva’s buses being in neither place.

I was of greatest enthusiasm when this new handover was announced, eagerly looking forward to the abolishment of the old polluting buses and the (in some cases) Neanderthal drivers. Now, incredulously, I actually hanker for them as the frequency and reliability was assured! A journey from Birkirkara to Golden Bay, where I work, took on average 35 minutes. Yesterday the same journey took two hours and 25 minutes. A colleague travelling from Sliema to Golden Bay took three hours and 10 minutes! Both of us received reprimands from our employer for arriving late at our workplace and a notation was made in our employment records.

Thank you Arriva and the Minister for Transport. Is this your way of encouraging car users to help improve the environment by using the new buses? You should be ashamed of yourselves. Please don’t fob me and thousands of other bus users off with the stale old chestnut that you’re doing your best to improve matters; this abhorrent situation should never have been allowed to happen if appropriate planning had been in place before July 3.