Two recent incidents I encountered exemplify the poor state of our bus service. A few months ago a bus showing destination Ta’ Qali arrived at the Birkirkara bus stop behind the Basilica of St Helen. Passengers boarded and the bus continued on its way. But at the top of the hill the driver turned towards Mater Dei, not Ta’ Qali.

Commuters were disturbed and as one of them approached the driver and asked what was going on. The scruffy driver rudely told him he should have asked where the bus was going – meaning the destination sign serves no purpose.

On February 5, my foreign student and I walked all the way to the bottom of St James’ Ditch to search for Bus 54 and when we finally got to the particular stand we found a bus with a ‘Sorry not in service’ sign and the number 54 on the side.

As we weren’t sure what to do I politely asked the driver whether this was Bus 54, to which he replied in a most unrefined way: “No, 27”, adding “ask a stupid question and you get a stupid answer”. I promptly replied: “From a stupid driver”.

Those present smiled but he did not seem to have understood.