To many of us, who had got used to the government’s way of doing things, the wholesale change introduced in Arriva’s schedules and routes last Sunday seemed a disaster in the making.

No billboards, no door-to-door leaflets, no extensive campaign. So one expected massive disruption both on Sunday and on Monday when people returned to work. However, there was nothing of the sort.

It is true, Arriva’s efforts to inform the public were minimal: Some new routes are still not listed on the website. In the end, Arriva, badgered by many customers wanting to find information, did nothing more than print sheets of its earlier press release, leaving them lying around the bus areas.

Anyone who asked a bus driver risked being met by a blank stare or a series of ‘don’t know’ looks.

This was the lowest of the low-cost approach. And it worked, because people quickly adjusted to the new routes and timings like ducks take to water. Why has there been this acceptance now, and the near revolution last July when Arriva started operating?

The reason, it would seem, was that this time, Arriva’s experts from around the world, took the time to assess routes, plan the changes and involved the local communities.

One noticed, for instance, that many local councils informed the residents of the changes that affect them and announced that ‘finally’ the routes and the timings are to the council’s approval. Pre-July 2011, the local communities were indeed consulted but the resulting mayhem shows the consultation was surface-deep, if that.

This time, Arriva did not need billboards saying it had ‘listened’ to the people’s feedback. It simply listened and listened properly.

There is still a long way to go, but the latest changes seem to reflect what people have been complaining about, both as regards routes they saw as useless detours and as regards under- and over-served routes.

Arriva still has a lot to do about its customer service from its drivers and officers. Last week, for instance, in Mellieħa, two Arriva inspectors pounced on a bus coming from Ċirkewwa and found, and probably fined, a group of tourists who had come over from Gozo and who had presented Gozo tickets.

That was not a very helpful gesture to make our visitors happy. First of all, Arriva must stamp on the red tickets sold in Gozo the words ‘Not valid in Malta’ and on the green tickets sold in Malta ‘Not valid in Gozo’.

Besides, the driver (in this case a foreigner) should have refused to accept the Gozo tickets when they were presented to him.

One also welcomes the commitment, promised in an interview to this paper’s Sunday sister, of an SMS system to supplement the information already available. This SMS system could also be an important way for passengers to report anything about the service in real time, while actual abuse is taking place.

More than anything else, the people show by their massive usage of the service, that they have come to like the Arriva system. People still grumble – this is grumble country after all – and there is a lot of political baggage in some grumbling – but people increasingly use the service. And, if nothing else, it is very cheap.

So as from today, when one says ‘Arriva’s done it again’ one would not be referring to another failure to deploy a better service, but ‘Arriva did it again – it has succeeded in bettering a system that was good already’.