Arriva’s self-imposed deadline is a few days away.

The operators of the new bus transport system, which started on 3 July, had set 11 September as the day when they will “provide a service we want and are expected to provide”.

Judging by the amount of complaints that are being put forward by members of the public who make use of the buses – locals and tourists – there are serious doubts whether Arriva will keep its promises.

There is no doubt that there has been an improvement when compared to the first few days, which turned out to be a chaotic experience, even because of a shortage of drivers as a result of the fact that many chose not to turn up for the job.

Whether this improvement is enough to satisfy customers is arguable. Some have benefited from the routes that have been introduced, but the great majority of people still complain that it is taking them much longer to arrive at their destination.

This is probably the biggest problem that Arriva has to solve, together with Transport Malta. It is evident that the timing of the journeys did not take into consideration stoppages at bus stops and traffic. It is also a daily experience to see two to three buses on the same route following each other on the road and then leaving a long gap between them and the next bus.

So much time is also wasted when passengers buy their tickets when they board the bus. Asking for proof of identification – because Maltese passengers pay less – is one of the reasons why there are delays. It seems that the culture change that is needed did not come about as expected. Unless this matter is sorted out, it will be hard for the buses to stick to their schedule.

One problem that will be hard to resolve concerns the size of the buses. There have been several occasions when buses moving in different directions could not pass each other in narrow roads. This problem is likely to remain in areas where the streets were not built to cater for such large vehicles.

There is another side to the story – and this is the harm done to the tourism sector because of the poor service that was given in the past two months. Some may argue that the service was poor anyway, and the only positive of the previous service was that many tourists enjoyed the vintage buses.

But it is true that the thousands of tourists who visited Malta in July and August – the peak months of the tourist industry – were disappointed and angered by having to take hours on end to get to their destination, including the waiting time at the bus stop.