ROME -- Over 50 bus lines run by ATAC, Rome’s public transport company, have been experiencing failures over the last few days as well as 30 bus routes completely cancelled, leaving locals and tourists stranded in 35 degree temperatures at bus stops all around the capital.

 “We have buses that can only turn right,” said one ATAC worker, adding “when the bus turns left, it only takes hitting a hole and the whole system goes into short circuit, and then it needs to go to the garage.”

 Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi now has the public transport crisis to add to her ever-lengthening agenda of problems to sort out in the Eternal City. Following the recent waste disaster, Raggi now has to turn her attention to ATAC, which is also causing chaos for the capital’s residents.

 Despite thousands of pounds spent on new buses and repairs of old ones, an impressive 90 percent of buses bought in 2013 and 2014 are already severely damaged, partly due to the notorious holes which line the streets of the Eternal City and give nightmares to ATAC’s faithful drivers.

 Rome, according to a survey carried out by Spiegel, has been rated the worst city in Europe for public transport, and summer 2016 is proving to make things particularly difficult for those trying to travel around the city.

 According to Italian newspaper the Messaggero, at least half of the faults from the last few days have been due to problems with air conditioning on the buses. “If the AC system breaks down, then the temperature on board shoots up to about 50 degrees, because many of the buses don’t have proper windows,” one ATAC driver said.

 According to the Messaggero, of a total of about 1,920 ATAC buses, only about 800 are actually in action on the roads at the moment, with the rest sitting in garages with serious faults that need to be repaired.

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