All suited and booted
One of Arriva’s greatest PR assets has been overlooked in the fuss about routes, length of journey, waiting time, software problems, blah blah nagging blah.
It’s their drivers.
I’ve just received a text message from a girlfriend who has commuted to work in Valletta for the last 20 years and counting, and who has so far refused to use the bus even though she lives right next to a bus-stop.
“For the first time in Malta I see handsome bus drivers. They look so odd. It’s worth going by bus just to see them smile.”
And let’s not underestimate what it takes to smile at whining, complaining, moaning people of unpleasant disposition who glare and stare and don’t bother with a greeting. Those drivers deserve a ruddy great medal, particularly because they’re picking up the slack of the 180 jerks who signed a contract and didn’t bother turning up.
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The magical transformation of the drivers is actually the second thing I noticed about the new service (the first being the absence of black smoke clouds following each bus).
Well done.
Yes, Ms Caruana Galizia
Odd and ‘funny’ at the same time.
On one occasion I had the opportunity to be seated next to two foreign-born immigrants who have been living in Malta for some years now.
Some comments were as follows:
– oh look, that bus has just stopped for people to cross the road (on a zebra crossing);
– oh, look at that, our driver has just stopped to give way;
– oh, the driver has just politely asked passengers to move back.
And so on.
Nearly unbelievable but hey, that’s reality.
Regards
K Caruana
Arriva made the mistake of thinking that those who signed the contract would actually want to drive for them.
My friends all say they knew the old drivers would disrupt. Why didn’t someone warn Arriva I asked?
No reply.
I suspect Arriva would not have believed such scaremongering.
They won’t make that mistake again.
http://bit.ly/njxWPu
Good news everybody. Malta’s subscription to the European Stability Mechanism, a.k.a. the EU permanent debt mechanism, has been increased to €511,700,000. We can borrow that money to re-invest into the bottomless pit of the crumbling euro. We’ll have to pay around €300 million a year to service our total debt, but as the Emeritus once said: ‘Money no problem’. Ahleb Guz!
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/SuMedia/30054/esm%20treaty%20en.pdf
How negative you are. At least we can get a return out of your perks and salaries through taxes, etc.
Truth has a negative value when you inhabit a box, Gingerman. But a box-cutter would be worthless to you.
Hmmmm…very INTERESTing.
I’m actually looking forward to my next visit in November when I should be purchasing a weekly ticket for all my family. For the first time I would not be the target of a fat git behind the wheel whose sole pleasure in life is to overcharge me for the miserable 30 minutes of travel on his smoke machine.
That was not an overcharge. It was a carbon tax.
On Monday, an officer rang the doorbell and spotted Mrs Caruana Galizia peering from a window.
LOL
[Daphne – Another liar. Even if I were in the house, the doorbell is at the gate, at the end of the drive. The windows are obscured by vegetation, and I had taken the precaution of putting down every blind in the house, meaning the man’s vision would have had to be truly extraordinary to recognise me at that distance through blinds and shrubs.]
Handsome? Maybe they’re the English drivers brought to give service because of those 180 jerks who did not bother to turn up.
On another note, it is simply not fair that the (English) drivers’ salary is higher than the salary paid to Maltese drivers. It is one of the reasons why more drivers are quitting their jobs with Arriva.
[Daphne – Oh I don’t know. Going by what you’ve said here, maybe they’re being paid for their looks. Let’s hope you’re handsome too, because you’re going to have a hard time getting paid for your brains. The British drivers brought over temporarily are paid their usual salary – you don’t expect them to take a pay-cut for the privilege of inconveniencing themselves to relocate to Malta in a crisis, do you?]
How come Maltese drivers had to be proficient in both national languages in order to be considered for a job with Arriva, while British drivers who speak no Maltese were brought in as strike-breakers (after all they ARE working in Malta)?
[Daphne – Please don’t provoke me into saying things that I should not. 1. There is no strike, therefore there cannot be strike-breakers. 2. In a crisis situation, the normal conditions do not apply. Given a choice between using temporary substitute drivers who know no Maltese, and leaving Malta without a bus service, it should be obvious to you that the first choice prevails. The British drivers are substitutes. They are not employed in Malta but in Britain, where they do not need to know Maltese and are paid more than drivers in Malta because it’s a different country and different conditions apply. Not to be an antipatika or anything, but I hope you understand these simple facts of employment law now.]
Be fair for once, Daphne, we are not talking about the ones wearing smelly shirts with towels round their necks and dirty black nails and shouting foul language to Maltese and foreigners (especially immigrants) alike. Even though they were paid a higher salary than the present workers.
The drivers are not just male.
Which is also a huge difference.
I used the old buses and I’m using the new ones.
Arriva has already made these previously ‘impossible’ achievements:
new buses of varying sizes for varying needs;
low-floor buses with room for pushchairs;
airconditioning throughout and tinted glass;
silent buses;
comfortable rides during which you can actually read;
buses running till 11pm (9.30pm before on my route);
courteous drivers, not just good-looking and wearing uniforms;
helpful staff at the interchanges;
a much better terminus in Valletta;
very clear signs at the interchanges and on bus stops;
a company that responds (rather than stikes) with visible improvements in just a few days;
explanatory literature sent to every household (which no one seems to have read, though);
an excellent website with a brilliant journey-planner (arriva.com.mt);
new routes that do not all take you to Valletta;
the first time we have real public transport at the airport taking arriving visitors directly to St Julian’s, Buġibba, Ċirkewwa and Rabat, among other destinations;
the first time we have real public transport in Gozo.
Arriva is one company, not a motley crowd of 300 undisciplined owners – i.e. it can and does respond.
There’s obviously room for improvement, meaning that Arriva’s service will undoubtedly be even better in a few days or weeks, especially if they get rid of ALL the old bus drivers and put them where they belong – in a dinosaur museum.
And if commuters learn beforehand which bus number they need to take and not ask other commuters or each and every bus driver who pulls up at the stop, things will move even more smoothly.
And if private car drivers make one simple (but seemingly very difficult behavioural change): do not block the approaches to bus stops.
Yesterday I had to go to Valletta on an errand. My car was garaged for repairs, so I was compelled to use the Arriva bus service. To cut a long story short, the buses (there and back) were punctual.
I only waited a few minutes for the buses to arrive (of course, I checked departure times before going to the bus stop), the drivers were extremely well mannered even though they seemed to have been driving for long hours, the buses were cool and the trips were normal.
Only the Maltese commuters were unbearable. They did not stop moaning for one instant.
Madonna x’nies skifuzi!
Undoubtedly there is still much to fix on other routes and timetables but there is no comparison between the old buses and drivers and the ones we have now. Thank you, Arriva.
Your friend is probably talking about the temporary Dutch and Spanish drivers.
As soon as they are replaced by the Maltese drivers, this feature will turn back to a liability. And that’s also because I did not apply for the job.
I have to add that the Maltese bus driver is set to remain at the centre of Maltese culture (should guarantee a future to the programm Xarabank, and John Bundy of Affari Taghna must be gritting his teeth).
Apparently there is a new card game about the Maltese bus driver. I heard that Arriva was distributing free packs so that commuters can entertain themselves during their 2 hour wait or journey. Just kidding.
Why are you chickening out and afraid to attend court?
[Daphne – I’m not, sweetheart. Keep up.]
That’s what it looks like to me.
[Daphne – Yes, it would, wouldn’t it. You vote Labour, which means by definition that you get the wrong end of every stick going. And also fail to have a proper grasp of civil rights or understanding of what constitutes police harassment. Just as you have failed to understand that because I stuck my neck out on this one, nobody will ever find themselves served on Sunday or on the eve of a hearing again – and if they do, they know to tell the police where to shove their piece of paper. ]
Mr chavsRus …. I don’t remember you asking the same question to Jason Micallef, when he decided not to attend court!
They won’t smile any longer after receiving their pay-cheque!
Then again, why are we astonished that bus drivers are smart during their first week behind the wheel? Shouldn’t this be the order and not the exception for all I know?
And there was Daphne, writing about the Maltese Bus Driver, while the Court waited. I had thought the excuse would be a delay on the bus journey, possibly an accident involving a bendy bus.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110712/local/caruana-galizia-making-mockery-of-the-court-lawyer.375192
And, it is now possible to argue in Court that looking like the back of a bus is no longer so offensive – thanks to Arriva’s new King Long buses.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110711/local/arriva-short-term-bus-network-review-under-way.375070
Well, as I always like saying,”Every cloud has its silver lining”.
Arriva are making a mess of it, but it now seems that at least the (handsome) drivers are making an impression on your girlfriends, so maybe it can be turned into a marriage bureau. Who knows!
[Daphne – The girlfriend in question has been married for 14 years. Married women would still prefer to look at a smart, smiling and handsome man than at a surly hog, if they are going to have to look at a man at all. ]
I must not forget to mention that the driver of the coach I was on, last Sunday, seemed to be very interested in a German boy, so maybe there is a little bit for everyone.
Defending the indefensible…well…I suppose you will be doing this a lot in the next 24 months.
You cannot really brush off Arriva’s – or rather I suspect the Transport Ministry’s – total unpreparedness for the mess we saw last week.
It is quite clear that quite a few routes do not make sense and increase journey times unnecessarily.
I decided to start taking driving lessons in my late thirties and only because of an on the spot decision after a bus journey which normally took 35-40 minutes took me 2 hours. Admittedly bus drivers’ attitude also helped then. However there is no way that a smartly dressed driver will offset the tedium of 3 to 4 hours commuting on a daily basis for a week, with perhaps more to come.
Remember that the people who use buses normally do not do this out of choice but because they cannot do otherwise for whatever reason. For these people who have waited for so long for the promised reform this must have ben a very big slap in the face and they have my total sympathy.
The above needs some corrections
Why is it that those 180 drivers, prototypes of ill-mannered, uncouth and uncivilized barbarians, simply couldn’t make the grade?
They seem to think that smiling or having courteous manners is unmanly and will make them feel ill.
How I wish the past saga of horrendous treatment meted out on us commuters is over and out.
When I first saw the Arriva ad of the smart young handsome driver in shirt and tie, I had to laugh. However the actual drivers are really a sight for sore eyes. They’re a far cry from the ones we’ve been used to, with towels round their necks and long black toenails poking out of dirty sandals.
The guys marshalling people at City Gate are also smart and low key. Let’s hope the crisp new white shirts do not fade to pale yellow in time.
Very, very true!
People are also complaining because the A/C is too cold.
This is a sweet one I heard on the radio this week: ” Issa nisperaw illi fix-xitwa ma jixghalux il-hijter, ghax malli tohrog fil-kesha tlaqqat xi rih”. Incredible!
I have used the Arriva buses regularly and the service is getting better every day, but one must remember that the Maltese hobby is just complaining for the sake of it or being armchair critics. The Maltese are known as Maltese gemgem.
The other day I just missed the Number 31 bus. When I got to the bus stop I found a man grumbling that he had been at the stop for a whole hour. I asked him why he didn’t catch the 31 bus that had just gone by and he told me that he missed it as he was crossing the road at the time.
Amazing – I just couldn’t comment. We didn’t wait more than 10 minutes for the next 31. About armchair critics, I have met people who have never used the bus services, past or present and manage to complain about Arriva.
Esagerati bhal dejjem. Bil-bibien jinghalqu u jinfethu il-hin kollu mhux il-kesha tohrog.
I don’t know about the routes because I’ve never been on a long route but the bus service is very good. I am using the bus to go to the office rather than my car which is too big a hassle in this heat. I look forward to further improvement of the service but when one considers it’s just started it’s not bad at all.
Yesterday evening while walking on the Sliema Front we saw buses passing by ever three minutes or so. Not an exaggeration believe me. Obviously many were empty.
Ciccio2011 – re Spanish and Dutch drivers – so according to you there are no Maltese handsome men ?
J.L.B.Maketoni – give the system a chance and then decide whether this reform is a success or not.
I read somewhere about the high incidence of depression in Malta. Judging by the highly negative comments over the past ten days and others regaled us by PL media, it is no wonder that depression in Malta is on the increase.
Etil, you did not read my comment in full. My last sentence in that comment answers your question about handsome Maltese men.
I don’t care too much for handsome, but one cannot help but appreciate an English bus driver saying “Grazzi”, while you’d be lucky to get as much as a nod from a Maltese one.
Nahseb li l-Arriva hija verament l-oppost f’kollox tas-servizzi li kellna qabel. Tibda mill-apparenza tad-driver, sal-hoss tal-makni.
Biss jiddispjacini nghid li ghad fadal wisq injuranza fost hafna Maltin. Naghti ezempju: fatt maghruf li l-Bulky Refuse Service mhux talli hu servizz b’xejn imma jiffunzjona perfettament. Ghandni kif rajt fejn skip bicca ghamara. Ara ghalfejn dan il-bestja ma cempilx ghas-servizz?
What I would have preferred to see is a service similar to various countries were the drivers do not have to deal with ticketing. Their duty is only driving and providing information.
In my opinion tickets are to be bought either from vending machines aboard the bus or in other public places or any other licenced outlet. Passengers would stamp their ticket on the bus. Of course an inspector should check at random if the tickets have been stamped.
With this system the buses could also have side doors for a faster entrance and exit.
“I stuck my neck out on this one, nobody will ever find themselves served on Sunday or on the eve of a hearing again – and if they do, they know to tell the police where to shove their piece of paper.”
We love you. Thanks, Daphne. We had no clue about it.
It happened to my mum last year when a single policeman came on a Sunday on his bike! Next time we will send him back.