After the shenanigans on Friday, where various bus owners howled with rage and derided the government’s vision of public transport in this country, the Public Transport Association has distanced itself from the behaviour of some if its members.

This is heartening, however it must all be put into context. That the public transport system needs to be overhauled, and in a big way, is a given – it is simply unsustainable and the service on offer is simply not what a fare paying customer should be given.

Malta is perhaps the only country in the world where buses are owned by the drivers, effectively creating a system where public transport is serviced by some 400-odd self employed people. Many of these look out for their own interests and that alone. The new network will be a departure from the old and in putting out a public tender, the government might “force” the bus owners to form a company that will have a proper hierarchy, unlike the haphazard chaos we see today.

The government hopes, and this newspaper joins that sentiment, that bus owners can come together and launch a competitive and effective bid for the tender. It simply cannot be the case that the state, or the relevant authority, has to deal with 500 odd people in delivering what is an essential service.

Clearly, there are people within the ATP who believe they are capable of launching and delivering on the tender requirements which are, it must be said, light years ahead of what we have today.

But what is equally amply clear is the fact that the ATP must purge militant elements from its ranks.

The attitude of some of the bus drivers, as they have shown time and time again – the storming of Castille, attacking emergency transport service providers and the performance of some of them last Friday is simply not suited to the job they are in. Customers will pay more if they get a better service – but not if the bus drivers themselves do no pull their socks up and behave decently.

Many people do not take the bus, simply out of antipathy towards the drivers and this will not change. The change to the service itself will be a tonic for the country and the general public should not be put off by the “mission impossible” attitude being taken by some drivers.

The blueprints of the system are not alien, they are doable and have been implemented in countries that are far worse off than we are, so why should the people of Malta settle for less? The answer to that is that people shouldn’t have to settle for less. And neither should bus drivers, for that matter. Once the new network is up and running, the lot of the drivers will be improved.

They are right, they need air conditioning in vehicles, they need more facilities and these will come about as part of a well thought out tendered process. The ATP needs to take a long and hard look at itself and decide where it wants to go.

What is certain is that it cannot continue on current tack.

It must go into survival mode and see who and what its assets are and how it can utilise them to bid for a tender that should see a massive increase in quality for all concerned – service providers and end users.