Malta’s attempt at Car Free Day on Wednesday can only be looked at as an abysmal failure. It must be looked at in a holistic way; it was a failure on an administration level and a failure by us as a people. The government fell well short of the standards that other European nations set in organising activities for European Mobility Week.

While Malta’s government encouraged people to make use of other forms of transport to get around, other European cities allowed free use of bicycles, closed villages and streets to traffic, organised street picnics and parties. Some cities even purchased hundreds and thousands of bicycles especially for the event. Mass transit prices, such as buses, trams and underground train prices were slashed dramatically and in some places the prices run for a whole week.

Here in Malta, we saw a marginal increase in the use of public transport. In other words, a few hundred people decided to use the bus. Some government ministers either walked to work, took the bus or used an electric cab, but it was only a token gesture.

But it is not only the authorities which are to blame. The failure is also down to us as a people and our attitude when it comes to alternative modes of transport. Of course, there will be a chorus of “but the bus system is terrible”. This is true, but there are other ways. We need to first start by cutting the use of our cars. Many people still hop into the car for a quick errand at the bank, or to post a letter when the destination is well within walking distance.

There are also other ways to cut such heavy dependence on the use of private vehicles, and that is a very simple concept called; car pooling. It is not rocket science. One person agrees to be the motorist and picks up others on his or her way to work, or school, whatever the case may be.

If we cannot do something as simple as this and engrain it into our culture, then we could participate in 100 car free days and still not get the desired reaction. Everyone complains about the traffic in Malta, and while we may not have the best road infrastructure in the world, commuters simply don’t help themselves.

People do not organise transport to work – why should an office block not organise a van to pick up the employees and take them to work and back home again? Why can’t people who work in the same building and live in premises situated along the same route to work, pick each other up and then drop each other off?

The answer is simple. It is far too easy to simply hop in the car, turn the key in the ignition and drive on our merry way to work. Malta cannot continue to support the amount of private vehicles on the streets. The roads are choked and the atmosphere is thick with exhaust particulates which settle everywhere. One needs only to run a finger along a surface which has not been dusted in a couple of days to see exactly what goes into our lungs.

But on the other hand, by just “encouraging” people to not use their cars, we might as well not take part in Car Free Day at all. We have embarrassed ourselves.