When David Schembri was assigned to cover the 2011 public transport reform as a reporter, he knew he was witnessing the end of a part of Malta’s history: the traditional buses.

Back then he was one of the Times of Malta journalists who covered the reform under which the bus system was taken over by British transport operator Arriva after years of being run by a drivers’ cooperative.

Newer fleets replaced the traditional buses that were relegated to being used only on special heritage services.

“It began to dawn on me that there was no plan to preserve the character of these buses,” Schembri says. “What we had known for all our lives was going to be lost, and I wanted to preserve the beauty I saw in it.”

So Schembri went to the Valletta bus terminus regularly during his lunch breaks and after work to take photos of the old buses, their details and the people who owned and drove them.

By the end of this one-month project in June 2011, David Schembri had 5,000 photos.

By the end of this one-month project in June 2011, he had 5,000 photos, some of which he is now sharing in a photo book the title of which was inspired by the signage inside the rickety buses: Wait Until the Bus Stops.

Schembri, who has since left the Times of Malta newsroom to travel, study and work, recalls how buses were an important part of his younger years.

The front cover of 'Wait until the bus stops' by David Schembri, published by Kotba Calleja.

“As a child and a teenager, I remember the old buses: first the green and then the yellow. I was catching the bus very regularly – not very willingly – because I’m from Nigret in Żurrieq and getting to places was hard. My bus from Żurrieq would pass through Luqa, where my father was from.

"It would then head to Valletta, where my mum was from. I remember, one day, being on the bus and seeing my [paternal] grandfather come on the bus to Valletta. He was going to buy ham. Stumbling into my grandfather and then going to tea at my [maternal] grandmother’s was a beautiful memory,” he recalls.

During his lunch breaks and after work David Schembri would take photos of the old buses, their details and the people who owned and drove them.

Photographer and writer David Schembri

Over the years he started appreciating the great charm of these buses.

“I travelled enough to notice that the buses we had in Malta were something special. We were getting on them every day and complaining about them – and sometimes with good reason – but we were not seeing that the buses themselves were unique objects with the way the drivers decorated and customised them,” he says.

When Schembri worked as a journalist he was also taking photography seriously.

Over the years the writer started appreciating the great charm of these buses.

“I had a digital SLR camera. I was privileged to work with some really good photographers like Darrin Zammit Lupi, Chris Sant Fournier and Matthew Mirabelli, and was very influenced by that element of photojournalism,” he says.

“When I was taking photos on one of the last nights, I noticed that there were no drivers around. They were in a meeting with the General Workers’ Union. Some came back saying they might strike on the first day of the new service. I found out about the drivers’ strike and we had the front page.”

The front-page story, written by David Schembri, announcing the 2011 bus drivers’ strike.

In fact, some drivers did not turn up on Arriva’s first day of operations – July 3, 2011 – due to an issue revolving around the work rosters. This marked the first of a series of hurdles faced by Arriva, which went on to quit Malta in early 2014 just three years into a 10-year contract. In 2015, government handed over operations to Spanish company Autobuses de León under the name Malta Public Transport, which runs the service till today. 

As the scheduled bus service transitioned from one operator to another, Schembri stored his photos on a computer hard drive which he replaced with a newer one, which crashed.

The photographer recalls how buses were an important part of his younger years.

Photo: David Schembri

“It was a wake-up call. Thankfully the images were still on the old hard drive. For the second time in this project, I came to the realisation that things get lost. The fear of having lost the project was a wake-up call.”

So he dialled up his efforts to get the book printed. He found the right publisher, Glen Calleja from Kotba Calleja, and designer Marco Scerri.

“My book is a timely reminder not to take what makes our country special for granted,” he says.

The photobook can be ordered from www.kotbacalleja.net. Schembri blogs at http://davidschembri.com/