Bus punctuality remains a headache nearly two years after Arriva started operating in Malta amid promises of a revolution in public transport.

Readers vented their frustration in a feedback section on timesofmalta.com, complaining about the “unreliable” service, with scheduled buses often arriving late or not at all.

One commuter described route 110 as the Loch Ness monster of public transport. Another said routes 202, 203, X2 and 33 had wandered into the Bermuda Triangle.

The solution, for many, would be to revert to the old routes while keeping the more environment-friendly vehicles and better-mannered staff.

Completely overhauled in July of 2011, the public transport service has been marred by commuter frustration and plagued by complaints about delays, broken ticketing machines, a two-tier ticketing pricing system for residents and non-residents, impractical routes and lack of punctuality.

Timesofmalta.com readers were asked for feedback about the service in the run-up to Arriva’s second anniversary,

Now that summer is approaching, many are already complaining of the stuffiness of the new buses, whose side windows cannot be opened in contrast to the old ones. When the air conditioning breaks down or fails to keep up, the only cool air is from small windows in the roof the vehicle that can only be left ajar, making the summer heat unbearable.

“Buses quickly become stuffy and smelly and the air feels heavy,” a commuter said, while another said passengers end up “half-baked”. “These buses are ovens on wheels,” someone else noted.

Another issue that seems to upset commuters is the display boards meant to indicate the arrival of route buses at particular interchanges and stops, including the Valletta bus terminus. Most of the time these are either switched off or not accurate.

Still, over the past two years the elderly, commuters with pushchairs and disabled people have been relieved at the ample space that the new buses provide and the lower steps that allow them to board more easily.

Also, despite the sometimes long and winding routes, some places previously inaccessible by bus can now be reached, while the service in Gozo has seen a huge leap forward.

A common appeal was for the removal of bendy buses, which appear to cause traffic jams especially when they get stuck in some narrow road.

But a commuter on the Ċirkewwa route said that as long as the bendy buses were kept on these routes, the service was acceptable. If they were replaced with smaller vehicles, he said, not everyone would be able to get aboard.

Punctuality, however, remained the biggest talking point. It was “no joke” for a passenger to have waited 90 minutes for a bus when two vehicles failed to turn up on a particular San Ġwann bus stop as scheduled, one commuter noted. When another dared say the buses were nearly always on time and the journeys were pleasant, readers asked him if he lived in the same country as they.

Some commuters’ dissatisfaction with the new service emerged again when timesofmalta.com yesterday published an April Fool’s article saying the Labour government was planning to bring back the old buses.

Although the news was not welcomed by those whose image of the ancient vehicles is of a cloud of black exhaust, others expressed relief at the notion that the service was reverting back to the “good old days”.

Commuters have their say

• John Thomas

The air conditioning system fails... These heating elements are instruments of torture for many commuters and the pleasure of some cruel drivers.

• David O’Neill

Some of the drivers are downright dangerous, never mind inconsiderate, to passengers. Others [usually women drivers] are a delight.

• William Spencer

The trouble is that people have probably forgotten the poor service pro-vided by the old buses. I remember sitting in one of the old buses in Sliema in the 1980s, when my window fell out on the road, the driver just looked at the remains of the window from his seat and drove on! Happy days! Viva Arriva!

Buses’ failure to be punctual remains commuters’ biggest concern. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi