Wearing a checked shirt and dark trousers, Ġanni Zammit, 66, of Qormi, plumps himself down on the scorching passenger bench adjacent to the “driver’s cabin”.

As with many Maltese buses, the driver’s corner looks more like a sanctuary cluttered with pictures of the Virgin Mary and an array of saints that would make any chaplain proud of this parishioner.

The odd picture of a naked well-endowed woman is never missing. This hangs up far away from the stern look on Christ’s face, accompanying some slogan like “I wish you twice what you wish to me.”

As the bus chugs along towards Sliema driven by a friend of his, Mr Zammit keeps one hand sprawled on the dashboard and holds on tightly to the leather bench with the other. He grins at every passenger who goes up to the driver to pay the 47c fare.

Mr Zammit drove a similar bus for 35 years. Now retired and having sold his bus, he hops from one bus to another, recounting tales of the “good old days” to whoever is willing to listen.

“Looking back at the passengers packed up like sardines, my cabin always felt like a spacious sitting room,” he chuckles.

“I had my bus for 35 years. My truck’s first run was in 1970. The body was built on a Bedford chassis in Malta. We bought the chassis from a scrap yard. They used to scrap British soldiers’ lorries and a Maltese coach-builder would build the bus on the truck’s chassis.”

The former bus driver is lost in his own past: “The bodies are unique to Malta. You will not find them anywhere else.”

A sudden halt brings Mr Zammit back to his senses and the passengers’ exclaims of surprise are accompanied by the bulky driver’s offensive gestures towards a reckless driver who had just made a U-turn in front of the bus.

Riding a bus requires courage when one’s faith fails. The anti-swearing signs that bus owners put up in their vehicles are often audibly sidetracked, especially when the rickety vehicle encounters one of the many potholes littering Maltese roads.

“Dangerous as they may seem, our colourful buses are one of the tourists’ preferred attractions,” Mr Zammit grins.

“I used to work on tourist routes. And oh dear me, some foreigners actually insisted on riding the authentic Maltese buses. My truck was always packed and no one seemed to mind the uncomfortable jostling and jolting, and smelly armpits. Tourists wait in the scorching sun to ride a Maltese bus,” he says proudly. His eyes well up. “My truck was beautiful. Tourists are used to modern coaches, and they haven’t seen anything of the sort. Riding a Maltese bus is a whole new experience. No matter where they go, they will never, ever see anything similar in the whole wide world.”

The Maltese buses’ public transport history goes back to 1905 when five Thorneycroft buses and a lorry were brought over from England, and ran between Valletta and Pembroke. Throughout the years, individual owners set up their own business, and even ambulances were transformed into buses. As time went by, the different companies merged into larger ones, until the Public Transport Association, started representing bus owners in 1977. Initially, routes were identified by buses painted in different colours. When numbers were introduced, all buses were painted a standard green for Malta and grey for Gozo. Now all buses are painted bright yellow and are in the process of being painted aquamarine as part of the transport reform process.

When Arriva won the 10-year contract to start operating public transport services in July, it committed to replacing a large part of the island’s ageing fleet to improve passenger comfort and reduce the environmental impact of transport.

But Mr Zammit might not be convinced it is a good move. The wrinkles on his forehead tell a thousand tales. Nostalgia drapes his face again. He has met people from all walks of life: A Libyan woman once jumped off his bus and lost consciousness. An old tourist died aboard from natural causes. Another passenger suffered an epileptic fit and Mr Zammit had to rush him to hospital.

“I have seen it all, and old drivers who have been in this business for years and have a couple of years left before they retire are feeling at a loss about the transport reform,” he sighs.