That Malta’s roads are congested to the saturation point is no big secret. The roads are gridlocked in the morning, at lunchtime, at 4pm, again at 6pm and it’s the same thing day after day.
On a small island where a 5-kilometre journey to work can take up to an hour, it is clear that something has got to give. Our very avant-garde government seems to believe that the new public transport system will do the trick. They are headed down the route of making car use much more expensive through licencing and registration fees, tolls, parking fees and whatnot to entice people to use public transport.
Well, let us start from here. First, would it not be better to get the system up and running and make sure that it is delivering on all fronts before declaring war on the motorist. And secondly, where’s plan B? Where’s the other plans to help turn Malta’s public transport network into a cheap and efficient service for all?
Where are the water taxis? Where is the promised increase in electric cabs? Where are the alternative modes of transportation? In the sky, that’s where they are. It does not take an expert to figure out that for an integrated transport system, one needs trams, buses, bicycles, water taxis, bridges, overpasses, electric cabs, low cost tuk-tuks (in use all over Europe now) and other measures.
But no, the authorities have kept preaching pie in the sky about alternatives and have only moved ahead on the introduction of the Arriva bus service. Why? Because the government has proved time and time again that it lacks good forward planning, structure, a plan-B, anticipating the worst and perhaps most worryingly, common-sense. Finances and tourism aside, there have been some very amateurish decisions taken during the past legislature. And unless the issue of alternative transport is addressed, then the public transport reform will also fail.
One need only go to any European country outside Lilliput and find people walking, using segways, cycling, using a combination of underground, buses and walking… it‘s a whole different ideology.
Brussels is the latest capital city to invest in bicycles. They are found all over the entrance to Brussels city and people use them to cycle into work from the outer ring. They are cheap, they are healthy and they are much quicker than sitting in a car stuck in traffic. Amsterdam is even more geared to bicycles – they even get right of way over cars. There are hundreds of thousands of them. As the popular song goes, there are also 9 million bicycles in Beijing. So; it begs the question… where are ours? Are the three bikes that were placed at the Floriana park-and-ride still there? Why is there not a free (or hirable) bicycle depot placed outside Sliema, Msida, Floriana, Paceville? Why are our bicycle lanes a danger to all who use them? Why do we never catch up to the world?
Purchase 50,000 bicycles, put coin meters on them and see how it goes. It’s probably cheaper than the MPs’ self-awarded pay rise anyway. But then again, the notion of buying bicycles to leave at strategic points for hire by the general public might just be a bit too complicated for some minds to understand.