In March, following an announcement that the Pame Express bus route taking commuters from GSP carpark into Nicosia would be scrapped due to a shortage of bus drivers, which sparked threats concerning the contractual obligations of the company, it was decided that the service would continue – but only for two months.

In the meantime, Cyprus Public Transport – which advertises remuneration packages of up to €3,000 per month including overtime on the back of its buses – said it was expecting a definitive solution to the problem, ideally before the May deadline expires, to keep transporting the hundreds of people who use Pame Express on a daily basis.

Bus drivers have been likened to an “endangered species” by the transport ministry, which said it was the operator’s responsibility to find drivers.

Fair enough, a contract was signed by which the operator must provide certain services and find its own drivers.

But then comes the proverbial spanner in the works by none other than the state itself, with recruitment requirements and driving licence training and cost.

Candidates, the regulations say, must be at least 24-years-old and speak both Greek and English.

Two years ago, the CPT told the Cyprus Mail that it took 18 months and over €3,000 to get a professional driving licence.

This year, the Cyprus Mail was told that training from beginner to professional driver usually takes around seven to eight months, at a total cost of approximately €1,600.

The latter being a much better arrangement, it is still off limits for some, given the financial situation of most people who can barely make ends meet if they have a job, let alone an unemployed person taking a course at their own expense hoping for employment a few months down the line.

As if finding drivers is not a big enough issue, around 85 of the rare species may lose their licences due to penalty points accumulated when they fail to stop exactly before the white line at traffic lights and the light on the other side of the junction flashes to make their [long] day. Slamming your foot on the brakes of a bus, the drivers argue – maybe not in so many words – would rearrange the commuters’ breakfast.

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to incorporate obtaining a professional driver’s licence into government training programmes free of charge to unemployed people who match the strict profile of the perfect driver?