Traffic has reached epic proportions on this tiny rock, with practically every family member owning a personal car, which are probably more common than personal computers.

With the arrival of Arriva, I became an avid public transport user. With all its warts it was a definite upgrade on the previous system. The current modified model is still preferable to the pre-Arriva classic. This viewpoint is from a seasoned commuter on  public transport who has used it for the last decade.

Using public transport pre-rush hours is a cinch. Problems develop when white-collar workers and students emerge. Then, public transport becomes problematic for both commuters and drivers, but perhaps more for the latter. Any car driver can recount spending long hours in traffic. Now multiply that tenfold for bus drivers.

One possible solution is to have more bus lanes. The few in use give bus drivers spurts of catching up with their schedule, but then they get gridlocked in other areas for hours, with dire consequences for commuters, not to mention the bus drivers’ stress levels. Bus lanes need to be continuous in the main thoroughfares.

Much has been written about the downsides of commuting by public transport. Here are the benefits that I consider to be true for me:

Firstly, for once I am not providing a facility to someone, family, friend or student, but instead I am getting the amenity from someone else – luxury.

Secondly, if the roads are congested, it is not me at the wheel, fuming and increasing the diameter of my gastric ulcer pro rata to the amount of time stuck there shifting gears – bliss for me although I am not sure about the bus driver. Most of them remain amazingly stoic in the face of all this.

Thirdly, in summer I do not enter a car that has become a microwave during the hours exposed to the baking Maltese sun but enter a bus already cooled by air conditioning. In nine cases out of 10 it works well.

Perhaps most importantly, no more defensive driving, having to be so alert to what the driver in front of you or near you is doing.

And of course, there is the fact of not going round and round like a mule on the wheel trying to find a parking place.