Few people on these islands, of what-ever political colour or creed, would dare trust Austin Gatt with ultimately doing a good job with the projected transformation of the public transport service. Anywhere he has unleashed his bloodhounds, ostensibly to change and restructure, he has inevitably left in utter gloom and frustration.

That this latest “cleansing” project could, after all, be his political swan song does not augur too well and will have been only a belated relief. I am sure he will not be using the new service once he loses his ministerial car.

But for the rest of the population going to work every day and eagerly hoping they will be able to make use of the public transport service to minimise the payment of unfair taxes pegged to fuel consumption for their private cars, there is only the dim hope of the foreign contractors actually making a success of the project.

It is of course true that most Maltese ardently want it to be a success. But while our public transport service has been lacking in almost everything for many decades, its idiosyncrasies have, over the years, gradually grown into a tourist attraction, to the extent that many souvenir producers have also been successfully selling models of Malta buses for ages.

Of course, it is easy for the relaxed tourist on holiday to enjoy something that for the routine commuter on his way to and from work is anything but comfortable, efficient and punctual.

By sheer juxtaposition, many of us don’t mind the disruption, the noise and the odours of the London Tube, as long as it takes us to the museums, the concerts and the football grounds, but Londoners complain incessantly and loudly about it.

But an island with tourism as its economic mainstay could have had other ideas rather than just dumping the old bone-shakers and inviting in the foreign contractors, no doubt enticed by the offer of a hefty annual subsidy and the no longer free park-and-ride service on a

silver platter. The old buses could have been revamped, their engines replaced, their bodywork redone, their seating embellished and their interiors supplied with air-conditioning.

Even more importantly, the buses would have still been able to go into the villages and towns, thus avoiding what in some areas is now being proposed as a game of musical chairs for passengers who will have to change vehicles at

certain points because the new Arriva buses will not be able to manoeuvre through the old streets.

People who need to travel daily to work, to visit hospital and get to the shopping areas, will not find this business of playing musical chairs amusing on either cold wintry days or on a typical scorchingly hot summer’s day.

To my knowledge, the tourism factor is already being raised by foreigners who genuinely love Malta, warts and all. Karen Stuke, for example, is a well-known German theatre-photographer whose father, Franz, is a retired Professor of Communications and former head of faculty. They have both been to the island on numerous occasions and both have been shocked that Malta’s eccentric bus service is being scrapped in this uncreative way.

Karen Stuke has obligingly put on Facebook the contents of a letter her father wrote to Austin Gatt. It makes pleasant and realistic reading, so is well-worth carrying here:

Dear Hon. Mr Gatt,

During my November stay in Valletta I learned that there will be a fundamental change in the Malta bus system next year.

My impression:

• This is a decision with uncalculated risks.

• The (vintage) Malta Buses are beloved symbols for lots of Malta tourists with a perfect service and so much communication with the Maltese people. How can you dare to eliminate such an attraction of a touristic orientated country?

• The traditional system is based on individual bus owners.

How can you dare to reduce a system of private owners in favour of an anonymous, centralized, only economical fixed company?

• The new system will be run by Arriva, a company by Deutsche Bundesbahn. Did you ever analyse the disastrous services of this company in Germany?

Ask the VRR (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr) and you will learn that the DB is incompetent to organize a system of public transport in time, with comfort, at requested stops − only interested in maximum profits.

Your decision is wrong, but −I fear − irreversible.

Malta is awaiting a catastrophe in public transport, will lose a lot of sympathy from Malta loving friends − only for the financial benefit of a “global player” and his commercial interests − including the well known connections to the Daimler-Benz bus constructors.

“Visit Malta” will become an adventure in matters of public transport − and your unique country will lose a lot of substantial identity.

Is it part of the strategy of making Malta a new Mallorca: An island without individuality, a “party island” with the only aim to make money? Horrible!

Yours,

Franz Stuke

It is a message that sets you wondering whether any thought has been given to the unique nature of our public transport service before it is lost forever. Tourists do not come to Malta for the sea and sun, both of which are guaranteed elsewhere, all over the Mediterranean region. They do not come for her few small sandy beaches.

They can get miles of those, even in other comparatively small tourist destinations like Cyprus.

So what the hell do they come for, one is rightly prompted to ask? Malta is a quaint, little place, and quaint little places have quaint things to offer, such as the strange EuroMed character of the people, the Englishness of some services and traditions, the fascinating culture and history tightly packed into a few square kilometres and, yes, the old buses that, wherever you board them, will always take you to Valletta, with their amusing slogans such as “In God We Trust”, “Kennedy” and “Verbum Dei”, beautifully reproduced on their fronts and rears.

A creative mind would have saved all that, given the staff a complete and mandatory makeover, rehabilitated every old chugger to turn it into an eco-friendly vehicle, and introduced a no-nonsense, efficient service for locals and tourists alike to enjoy.

Sadly, in the case of the Malta bus service, it is again the political mind that has won the day. It is much easier for the politician to dismantle a service, offer someone else the enticing opportunity to introduce a new one and hope for the best. It’s been done in other sectors, as in broadcasting, the utilities and ship-repair, and what did we get?

More inefficiency, less jobs, markedly higher prices and Jaguar-driven ministers.

The rest of us can only wait and hope, keeping our fingers crossed.