Two months after its introduction, the new Arriva bus service remains totally unacceptable. I have persevered in using the buses regularly in these last weeks to ensure that my initial bad experience was not mere bad luck.

Ironically, what the new bus service has done is to reinforce the determination of perhaps more than 70 per cent of the Maltese who exclusively use their private transport for their travelling needs. The new public transport service is causing unnecessary hardships to the other 30 per cent of the population who use it.

It is also causing immense damage to our tourism industry. A frustrated tourist told me the other day while waiting with me in the Valletta terminus for almost an hour for the No. 31 bus, “You have to get rid of Arriva or else we will never come to Malta again”.

It is time for a national protest against this undignified way the Maltese are being treated by this company and against the failure of the authorities to remedy this situation. This should not be a partisan issue and political parties, local councils, consumer organisations and trade unions should unite to organise this protest to show the authorities we deserve to have a decent public transport that respects the dignity of the public who use it and who is subsidising it with its taxes.