The reality of the situation is that until Malta develops and implements a mass transport system to service the whole island, with intermodal buses, trams and boats, the traffic problem might be mitigated, but it will not be solved.

Most large cities around the world are served by subways, metros or undergrounds... call it what you like, but the system is similar everywhere: Trains stopping at underground stations, with changeovers to buses or other trains at specific hub stops.

We often wonder why things seem to run so smoothly for those who do not use cars abroad, and the answer is simple, interconnectivity. If one lives in the suburbs, they can hop onto a train, change over to underground and walk a couple of blocks to word. And that is where the problem in Malta lies. We only have one major form of public transport and that is buses.

Granted, the system has improved, but it is still very far from being ideal.  Until we get the system sorted out, people are going to continue to rely on their cars, choking the roads in the process as the number of vehicles continues to swell each and every year.

The government has implemented a number of initiatives, such as the tidal lane, car pooling and more, but it is not enough. The PN has also submitted its proposals on what to do to alleviate the problem, but we must always bear in mind that whatever stop-gaps that are implemented, they are just that, interim measures that will help the problem in the short-term, but not in the long run.

As the rest of the world begins to look at magnetic levitation trains, and bullet underground trains that run on vacuums and cushions of air, we are still talking about bus lanes and car pooling, for goodness’ sake.

Of course, a radical overhaul of our main thoroughfares will help matters, as we have seen with the Coast Road, but the bottom line is that until we have one continuous arterial project that links the four corners of Malta to commercial centres, then we are just going to create more bottlenecks further up the road, as is happening right now with the Kappara Junction. Once it turns into a flyover, we should hopefully have a much smoother flow of traffic – until it hits the next roundabout.

The government must consult with experts, from overseas, if needs be, to come up with a project for the future. There is no doubt that the only true solution is to go underground. Some might point out that by the time we manage to excavate a tunnel network, there will be new technology in place that eclipses what we know today. That may be true, but one thing that will not change is that mass transport systems will, at least for the foreseeable future, be underground. By the time we have excavated a network, the technology might have changed, but it should still be able to accommodate the new breed of underground transport, whatever it may be.

Stopping rubbish collections at peaks times, incentivising car pooling and the myriad other ideas that have been put forward will definitely help to improve the situation. But it will not solve it. Malta must be treated like a citystate in terms of transport. Unless we do that, and unless we look far ahead into the future, these islands are going to choke on our own exhaust fumes.