Transport Malta (TM) last week announced that it is set to increase its monitoring of taxis once the reform process kicks off in three months’ time. It has also announced that there will be strict penalties if taxi owners or drivers breach any regulations once they come into force.

The Maltese and Gozitan taxi fleet long had a reputation for fleecing customers, but things have improved over the years – especially with the introduction of fixed fares from the Malta International Airport and the Sea Passenger Terminal in Valletta.

TM announced that among various measures, there will be remote monitoring of all taxi meters and if they are found to be used without a meter, the individual taxis will be confiscated. Meters will also issue fiscal receipts and closed circuit television cameras will be installed in all vehicles. Taxis will also be monitored by a global positioning system.

Air conditioning systems will be mandatory in all vehicles while second hand cars will not be allowed to serve as taxis.

This is all positive, as it will improve the quality of service on offer – but only if Transport Malta stays true to its word, insomuch that it will strictly monitor the vehicles and their owners. That, of course, needs to be backed up by tough penalties if there are breaches of regulations.

The taxi sector is also set to be liberalised in 2015 and the government has agreed to issue some 50 new licences by 2012. The taxi owners say that they cannot afford to liberalise the sector just yet – and it has also been confirmed that taxi fares in Malta are on the high side when one compares to other European countries.

The reform, if implemented correctly and standards are kept, sounds positive. But something must be done about the fares. They are still too expensive. When one travels abroad, one can easily see just how expensive they are in comparison to the fares available in other countries.

TM plans to offset this by allowing taxi drivers to display commercial advertising in their cars which should be linked to a reduction in fares – but still it is not enough. One of the yardsticks with which people measure the value of a holiday is in fact transport fares and thus taxis also come into this. Hopefully, once the sector is fully liberalised, we will witness cheaper fares, but we are still quite a way off.

Transport Malta is also set to organise a course which all taxi drivers are obliged to attend and that includes accompanied training and a five-year probationary period. At the end of the day, the main problem which people (both locals and tourists) find a problem with is the attitude of taxi drivers and the way they drive. A bit of courtesy goes a long way and one truly hopes that the course which is organised has a better lasting effect than it did when something similar was organised for bus drivers.

But as we have already stated, the key lies in monitoring. No one begrudges taxi owners the right to earn a living, but if we are going to have to put up with fares which are high, then the least we can expect is to have a good service. The tangibles, such as the monitoring of meters, GPS tracking and others will all have a positive effect, but only if Transport Malta sticks to its guns and demands the standards which are needed.