After the Arriva debacle, the bus service has improved, but there still remain some serious shortcomings which let commuters down.

A few impolite and arrogant drivers should be relieved oftheir duties.

People who use the buses (these include those who don’t drive, pensioners, disabled, religious, etc.) should not have to be worried about the driver.

At the Valletta bus terminus, there are no shelters for people waiting for bus numbers 12 and 13.

Punctuality is still lacking on some routes and the late X3 from Buġibba often cuts the journey short to the airport leaving people stranded on bus stops.

In Gozo, buses on most routes leave at hourly intervals. Long queues accumulate and often passengers are packed like sardines.

A half-hourly interval would be much more reasonable.

About a year ago, MP Silvio Schembri wrote to Transport Minister Joe Mizzi about some problems facing Luqa residents and suggested how these could be solved.

He made five suggestions which do not involve any difficulties or much expense.

All five are still in abeyance.

The problems include the fact that the popular bus stops near the Dinitrol station and Lidl supermarket are still without shelters; Route 71 still does not travel through the church square as it used to; and some people who frequent Żurrieq, Wied iż-Żurrieq and Għar Lapsi have to walk a long way come rain or shine to catch the bus on the outskirts of Luqa.

Ministers, MPs and other high officials are all served with a driver and when they pass by in their limousines, they must see the poor people stranded on bus stops without shelter, drenched or sunburnt.

But who cares?

The man in the street is not respected, otherwise such trivial problems would have been solved long ago.