"The people who criticise the public transport for being unreliable generally are those who haven't used public transport for many years," Minister Chris Bonett commented cynically. Well, I use the public transport regularly, I suspect far more regularly than Minister Bonett - and the public transport is not just unreliable.  It's utterly hopeless.

On a Thursday morning I was due to run a clinic in Gozo starting at 8am.  I left home at 5.25am because the tallinja app advised that if I walked 22 minutes to Miller, a bus stop on Birkirkara Road, I would be able to catch Bus X300 at 6.01am. I walked the kilometre and arrived on Miller bus stop in good time.  6.01am came and went - no X300 bus appeared.  I checked the tallinja app again. It stated that the bus would be there at 6.06am.  It wasn't.  Eventually X300 did make an appearance at 6.20am.  I waved the driver down.  He saw me and waved to me and kept driving on.  He didn't even bother to drive into the layby on which Miller bus-stop is situated.  He simply kept on the main road. 

I checked the tallinja app again to try and figure out how I could get to Cirkewwa to catch the ferry to get to work on time so patients weren't left waiting.  After another 25 minutes of waiting, I took bus TD13 to Bugibba bus terminus and then caught bus 221 from there to Cirkewwa, arriving at 8.20am. I still had a ferry to catch and a steep hill to climb to get to work where I arrived very late and with a waiting room full of patients, clearly irate at my tardiness.  I learnt my lesson.  I thought for my next clinic I'll walk all the way to Mater Dei to make sure I get on the bus. That's what I did.

On Tuesday 22 July I was due to run a clinic in Gozo starting at 8am. So I woke up even earlier.  I left home at 5.10am and walked to Mater Dei because the tallinja app informed me that X300 to Cirkewwa was due at 5.56am.  Again I was on the bus stop (Sptar 1) in good time.  No X300 bus passed at 5.56am. I waited some more.  Eventually X300 came by. Again I waved the driver to stop.  He simply drove past.   In desperation,  I took the next X300 that came by but it was going to Valletta.  It took me to the Fast Ferry which I caught to Gozo at a cost of 7.50 euro.  Again I was late, arriving at the clinic at 8.30am.

The clinic finished at 4pm.  I got to Mgarr and took the ferry back to Cirkewwa. Bus 222 arrived at the bus stop bang on time. But by then so many people had accumulated that it took an eternity for everybody to alight. The bus left at 5.10pm - late.  Before it even left Cirkewwa it was packed - literally. There wasn't even standing room left.  Everybody waiting at Cirkewwa got on but nobody else did.  All those waiting on all the bus-stops along the route were left stranded. People waved frantically as the bus drove on - at several bus stops. The temperature was 34 degrees Celsius. Those frustrated passengers had probably been waiting for quite some time in searing heat, in many cases with no shelter, judging by their angry reaction. Conditions in the bus were no better - passengers fanned themselves as the temperature in the overcrowded bus rose.

When the driver was compelled to stop at some bus-stops because people wanted to get off, there was a stampede as those waiting to get on desperately pushed and shoved.  They knew there wasn't place for all of them. The driver would only allow as many people to get on as had got off. The frail and elderly stood no chance.  Only the strongest made it. Many of them were young tourists - at St Agatha's red tower, Ghadira bay, Mellieha, Xemxija, St Paul's Bay. Others were workers trying to get back home after their day's work. The common factor was that none were Maltese.  The Maltese know they can't trust the public transport system and they cannot believe a word Chris Bonett says.  They've been around long enough to know the truth - Bonett's buses are a complete mess.

For that utter disaster, taxpayer is paying millions upon millions. In 2023 alone we paid almost €70 million to national bus operator Autobus de Leon.  That was a massive jump compared to the already massive €42.8 million in 2022 and another €36.3 million in 2021. For 2023 the Labour government budgeted €54 million but actually paid €69.4 million.  For 2024 government expected to pay €49 million for the public service obligation and another €25 million for the free bus service.  That's almost €75 million of our taxes - for a shockingly bad service.

Arriva, which Labour denounced for its disastrous stint, was paid just €6.4 million per year - less than the €10 million paid to the Public Transport Assocation (ATP) in its last year of operation and a fraction of what Autobus de Leon is paid now.

The current public transport service is an even greater unmitigated disaster than Arriva ever was. The only difference is we're paying tens of millions more now.

Even its tallinja app is a joke. It provides little to no information and what information it provides is often wrong. You can track where your Wolt delivery driver is and when your food will arrive but you don't have a clue where your next bus is, when it will arrive, whether it will arrive at all or whether it will simply drive past when it does arrive.

The Maltese population is voting with its feet. Practically no Maltese person uses public transport. When you offer a free service and practically no Maltese person takes it you know that service is rotten. It seems everybody knows the transport system is hopeless except Chris Bonett. 

One thing is absolutely clear - Bonett has never got on a bus. He's got his publicly funded BMW and his personal driver.