The government yesterday hailed as a success the controlled vehicular access system operating in Valletta since the beginning of the month, and said that the system’s objectives had been achieved.

On the tenth day since the system came into operation, the government said, 33,000 vehicles had entered Valletta, surpassing the old limit of vehicles licensed to enter the capital.

Congestion in Valletta had fallen considerably, so much so that at any time of the night or day over the past 10 days there have been a minimum of 350 parking spaces available for motorists entering the capital.

Between 30 April, the last day when the V-licence system operated, to 8 May, Valletta had seen a drop of 57.2 per cent in the number of cars remaining there for over five hours.

The number of cars remaining in the capital for over eight hours had fallen by 68.9 per cent.

Some 500 parking spaces left vacant had been used more than once by vehicles which had gone into the city for a short time. The number of cars going in for under one hour on 9 May was 181.6 per cent more than the number on 30 April.

The number entering for between one and five hours on 9 May was 47 per cent more than on 30 April.

The tendency was that car stays of five hours or more, excluding residents, were made by people working in the capital, while stays of five hours or less were made by shoppers, people visiting relatives or for other purposes.

The government said this showed that the system’s objectives had been met so much so that the 35c fee for one hour parking had drawn more people to Valletta for shopping while the day’s parking charge of Lm2.80 for over eight hours had made people take their car to the periphery, or to use other means of transport.

In fact, the statement added, there had been an increase of just under one per cent in public transport use – the percentage being of all public transport trips.

These figures were highly encouraging and contradicted the opposition’s criticism of the system that there had been poor planning, the government said.

The system was daily encouraging people to go to Valletta to shop there. Valletta residents’ quality of life has also improved.