Having paid our first visit to Malta since Arriva’s arrival on the scene, I have to say that my first impression (and that of my wife who has no interest in buses whatsoever) was how drab the scene was without the vibrant yellow colour of the old buses.

What a shame Malta could not have done a ‘London’ and insisted on local livery. The former livery of yellow, with cream (or white) and red band could easily have been adapted. The first bendy-bus we saw was on tow out of Mellieħa. Two days later another was being ‘hitched up’ in Mellieħa Bay, and a couple of days later another in the same area was awaiting rescue. Not a good advertisement for them – I don’t ever recall seeing an old Maltese bus on tow or broken down in eight years of visits. Visiting the terminal at Ċirkewwa, there was a sad-looking bendy out of service, with a distinct ‘list to port’ at the rear, and scraped nearside rear. An inspector (from Manchester) was giving it the ‘once over’. On enquiring if it had been in an accident, I was informed it was “driver error”.

The main problem with the bendy buses appears to be overheating, not having enough power to cope with the steep inclines either side of Mellieħa. This was reported both by the inspector at Ċirkewwa and someone at the airport. Certainly the only time we saw one on the gradient approaching Mellieħa was struggling. Mellieħa is certainly not the best town for bendies with the steep main street and narrow tight bend at the top.

We didn’t personally experience a bendy bus. But another hotel guest told me of their day out. None of the buses they travelled on was running to a published timetable. The trips tended towards the hair- raising. They were never told of stops and ‘next stop’ signs were ‘frozen’. All in all it seems that while things have obviously improved greatly from a year ago, there is still work to be done.