Long queues, delayed delivery of bus cards, faulty air conditioners, and the elimination of the daily and weekly fares meant that the successor to the Arriva bus service has had its own share of teething problems.

The new bus operators, Autobuses de Leon, took over the service in January, but the changes were introduced gradually in order to avoid the chaos created when Arriva took over the public transport service in July 2011.

At the beginning of this month, a new fare structure and an electronic paying system were launched. A series of new routes are set to be introduced gradually by the end of the year and this process will be accompanied by an increase in the number of buses to 360 from the existing 280. So what are the main passenger complaints?

I topped up my Tallinja card with €10 or €20, but ended up with a negative balance after using it only once or twice.

When topping up online, with a voucher or through a Maltapost office, the balance may take up to 24 hours to update. If you travel during these 24 hours, the balance on the card will appear as negative until it is updated. We are working to reduce this period.

I was charged €1.50 when taking two or more buses, despite keeping within the two-hour timeframe that should cost 75c, as adverts claim.

A journey is defined as any number of trips taken to get to a final destination. This includes any required changes within a two-hour period. A journey does not, however, include trips on the same line (return trips).

Will the one-day and weekly ticket be reintroduced?

The fares are regulated by Transport Malta. However, the fare for a single journey has been significantly reduced from €1.30 to 75c, while adult card users will automatically benefit from the monthly cap of €26, or €21 in the case of students. Around 15,000 people have already reached this limit and are travelling free for the rest of the month. The elderly weekly fair has also been reduced from €2.30 to €2.

I started using the card on July 9. However, the €26 monthly capping will apply until July 31, not August 8.

The monthly capping applies automatically between the first day and the last day of the month – a calendar month. It is easier for customers to remember a calendar month than the start and end dates of a 30-day period. This way, people do not need to actually decide whether to buy a prepaid month ticket, and risk not using the full amount if they do not travel as much as originally planned.

I registered before July 1 and have not yet received my Tallinja card. We can only request a refund until July 31. Does this mean all cards will be sent by the end of the month?

People who registered before July 2 and have not received their card can apply for a refund. This process will run until July 31. We will credit the refund for the difference in price (of the full fare and the card fare) by the end of August. We have already sent all cards, however, some were returned because of problems with address details and we are processing them now. Customers should advise us immediately on mycard@tallinja.com or 2201 4824 if they have not yet received their card.

Do I have to reapply to replace the temporary card I received with no photo?

Photos submitted with some registrations were not adequate. In some cases they included more than one person or various items. In other cases the quality was very poor. We will be editing the photos where possible. If necessary, we will contact customers to submit a new photo. A new card will be sent free of charge by post. The credit on the old card will be transferred to the new card.

We had to change buses in Msida because the air conditioner broke down.

We apologise for the issues with the air-conditioning on some buses. As soon we took over the company in January, 142 new buses were ordered to replace buses rented temporarily from the UK. So far, 40 new Euro Six buses have been put into service, another 40 are expected to be introduced by mid-August while the remaining will be in service by September. The buses rented from the UK are equipped with an air-conditioning system but this may not always be enough for the high temperatures we had over past days. These are the ones that were being used last year.