It started off with great expectations that Malta would finally have the public transport system that it deserved, one that aimed at encouraging more people to use buses to ease the traffic problems on our roads.

But it was not to be. Ever since that fateful 3 July overhaul, the bus transport system has come under fire as more and more commuters complained that they were running late, that buses never arrived and that the new system was, possibly, even worse than the one we had left behind. And this last bit said it all, considering that the previous system had been the target of so many complaints.

Initially, everything was being blamed on the fact that many bus drivers did not turn up for work, and that it took time for others to be brought from abroad. But it was clear that the culpability had to be carried by others, first of all by Arriva, the operators, and more importantly by the government, which was quite reluctant to accept that the way the routes were drawn up in the first place had been at the root of the controversy.

The thousands of euros the government spent in consultancies went literally down the drain.

Now, finally, and at the fifth change in the route system in the same number of months, Minister Austin Gatt has accepted responsibility. “It’s our fault,” he said. “We might have been too innovative and avant-garde.”

In a way, what the minister was saying was that the Maltese are too conventional. With the slogan now being “public transport as you want it”, the government was admitting that it had to give in to what the people were saying, but at the same time there is a hint of defiance that, were it for the government, it would have continued to run the system as it is in the hope that everything would have eventually fallen into place.

And now we will once again have new routes and changes starting on 6 November. Of course, it is too early to say whether these will be to the public’s liking. But the fact that, once again, we will go back to the hub and spoke system – with each and every locality having a direct link to Valletta and Mater Dei Hospital – means that the government has accepted that the interchange idea has failed.

It is hoped that, as from 6 November, the public will have an efficient public transport system that will enable passengers to move from one point to another in the least possible time, and without having to wait at bus stops for too long.

But we reserve our judgment on that until the umpteenth changes are implemented.