Bus service in Malta
From maltawiki.com
This article is about the old bus service in Malta. For the bus service in Malta from July 2011, see the article on Arriva.
The old bus service on Malta was very cheap. A one-way ticket cost 0,47 Euro. The buses used were very, very old. Tourists tended to find this either amusing or scary while commuters found it very frustrating. One of the main tourist souvenirs from Malta was in fact miniature models of the characteristic Maltese buses.
Bus drivers in Malta came in various qualities and bus trips could at times be quite rough.
The attitude of the drivers and the quality of the buses had it's roots back to the difficult beginning of bus service in Malta in the 1920's. Back then, the buses were privately owned and operated. Back in these days, the financial situation for the owners of the buses was critical, and this led to undermaintenance of the buses, bus drivers trying to cram as many passengers into each bus as possible and streetracing to be the first bus to reach bus stops full of waiting passengers. While the financial situation of the owners of buses improved over the years, maintenance was still bad, passengers per bus were plentyful and the race was still on!