It is a daily hassle to even try boarding Bus 125 to Mater Dei, incidentally the only bus that passes through Psaila Street in Sta Venera.

To start with, we residents living in the vicinity of Psaila Street had the advantage of taking a bus directly to Valletta, just a kilometre and a half away. Now Arriva have come on the scene and what used to be a 15-minute drive to Valletta, now takes more than an hour-and-a-half. The direct route to Valletta has been removed and we are now constrained to travel to Valletta via Mater Dei. Apart from all this, Bus 125 rarely appears. Last Sunday, my wife and I were at the Villambrosa bus stop at exactly 3.45pm to wait for Bus 125 to take us to Mater Dei. There were two elderly ladies with us. We waited until 6.05pm in the scorching sun − two hours and 20 minutes but Bus 125 never turned up. We went back home. By the way, one of the elderly ladies almost collapsed. I phoned Arriva and complained. I never got an answer.

Today, 2 August, we made another attempt and were at the same bus stop at 9.10am. According to the schedule attached to the bus stop pole, Bus 125 was supposed to arrive at Villambrosa stage at 9.14am and then at 9.44am. It never did. We returned home and used our private car. I phoned Arriva customer care later and asked about the frequency of Bus 125. The person who answered the phone (who by the way was extremely polite) said he did not know, but presumably, he said, “every hour”. He seemed confused and did not know what to say.

I would like to ask the incompetent people responsible for causing all this distress and chaos one simple question. When are you going to resign? Have you not given up yet?

John Bencini

MSIDA