It's disgraceful! On Saturday (September 13)we spent a lovely evening in Vittoriosa graced by the company of many writers from around the Mediterranean countries thanks to Inizjamed. At 9.40 p.m. we left the event to sit on the bus stop at the Vittoriosa terminal across the road to where the event was held. The aim was to catch the 10 p.m. bus. At 10.30 p.m. we were still sitting on that same bus stop!

Before attending this event we checked the online summer bus schedule at www.atp.com.mt/atp/servlet/ControllerServlet?action=publicBusRouteTimes&busRouteId=13, which said there would be a route bus at 10 p.m. from Vittoriosa to Valletta.

We also asked the bus driver who brought us to Vittoriosa if there would be a 10 p.m. bus. He confirmed that there would be a 10 p.m. bus, leaving the Vittoriosa terminal at 10 p.m. headed for Valletta.

At 10.30 p.m. we were stranded! We went back to the venue of the event, by which time the guests had begun to leave, to ask for a lift to Valletta.

We got a lift to Valletta and wanted to file a report for a missing bus with the person in the Valletta booth at the terminal. We were told that to file a report we had to leave our contact details and the details of the case after which we would be called to a transport tribunal at 4 p.m. on a stated date to provide a verbal report before the tribunal. The person in charge in Valletta also pointed out that should this happen again we were to call on 2123 1216 immediately.

This number will get you in touch with the Valletta booth at the terminal. One look at an old bus ticket we had confirmed that this number is not printed on bus tickets. However, we were encouraged to use this telephone number.

We have no intention of attending at any transport tribunal because we believe that the enforcement of routine checks, accountability, responsibility and abiding by scheduled route times is not within the commuter's responsibility.