Mr Buhagiar said that the decision had been taken by the Nationalist government without any forward planning.

He pointed out that while the bus lane concept is widely used in Europe, such measures cannot simply be put into effect without any planning.

Reform of public transport, said Mr Buhagiar, included the vehicles themselves, the service offered and the infrastructure, to ensure that everything went well.

He said that serious and proper restructuring should also include sorting out the bus lanes. “However, this cannot be done without any planning and without one even contemplating the adverse effects such a measure will have on traffic flow,” said Mr Buhagiar.

He said bus lanes should also be kept in mind when a road is being designed, rather than as an afterthought.

The majority of roads being built allow only two lanes, he said, which automatically excludes the possibility of having a bus lane.

“In fact, the only bus lanes there are have been allocated to older roads as they are the only ones big enough to accommodate them.”

Mr Buhagiar said that this clearly showed that the new roads being built did not even allow for bus or cycle lanes.

He appealed for the government to come up with a good plan to solve the country’s traffic congestion problem.