If Malta’s rickety public transport system has one virtue, it is probably the free, improvised on-board entertainment which is fast making Maltese buses a Youtube genre in their own right.

The latest sensation is the now infamous ‘mara ħażina’ (bad woman) clip, which has amassed 122,000 views since being posted online on October 1.

The mobile phone video, which records an animated argument between two burly women evokes the image of a certain portion of Maltese street life.

It was posted under the title ‘Pastażi (sic) ta’ Malta’ (Malta’s rude people) but soon got rebranded ‘mara ħażina’, as this proved to be an insult favoured by one of the protagonists. The clip became so popular it has now become a remix, to be found under ‘Int Mara Ħażina – Remix’.

The loud rant goes on between the two women for at least six minutes as the rest of the passengers awkwardly pretend to ignore the scene.

That is, until, midway through the video, the argument almost escalates into a fight, until a man intervenes to stop the screeching woman.

At that point, a few passengers got involved to calm things down but otherwise hardly anyone dared interfere, including the driver.

Another Youtube video shows the bus driver as the protagonist, as his love for golden oldies like Twist and Shout comes to the fore and created a vibe more akin to a party than a ride to Mellieħa.

The video ‘Bus Malta’ has already clocked over 50,000 views, and driving infringements aside, could easily be used in a tourism promotional campaign.

The clip, posted by an Italian tourist who at one point is seen hugging the driver, shows most passengers singing along at the top of their voices to the track made famous by The Beatles.

A senior citizen refused to miss out on the fun, gyrating and singing along with the rest of the passengers.

But the clip is certainly not the first advert about the ‘joys’ of Maltese public transport. Another hilarious clip, which surprisingly only garnered some 5,000 views, shows a sizeable group of ­passengers pushing a tired old bus in an attempt to get the engine going.

Some other clips say it all in the title: ‘Welcome to Peru ooops it’s Malta’ or ‘Earthquake on a Maltese bus’ which was posted by a tourist who fell in love with the massaging properties of the ride on some of the old busses – courtesy of potholes of course.

Another clip, viewed over 18,000 times, shows a bus driver driving along Tower Road in Sliema while speaking on a mobile phone... hands free, from the steering wheel that is.