Reducing the use of cars must be a top priority for Malta.

Ever since Covid-19 restrictions eased, the normal day-to-day traffic returned… and it is only getting worse.

Malta’s Sustainable Development Strategy for 2050 states that, amongst other things, Malta is seeking to reduce the modal share of car drivers to 41% of what it was back in 1990 by the year 2030 as it looks to satisfy the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Having such a target is good… but realistically speaking how are we going to achieve that aim? So far, the main thrust has been to improve road infrastructure and widen roads… Now this helps with the flow of traffic… but does nothing to help reduce the number of passenger cars.

The government introduced free public transport, which is a good thing… yet many are still using their private vehicles. This shows that the government is trying to incentivise people to move away from private car use… but is this enough? Clearly we still have too many cars on the road.

The idea of an underground seems to have been shelved and, let’s be realistic here, while being a good idea the feasibility of such a project is a serious concern.

In order to shift away from private car use, we also need a serious mentality shift. We need an improved public transport system. We would likely similarly need a new form of public transport to compliment the current system also… as for what that form of transport may be, well that requires serious discussion and ideas to be debated. Would, for instance, trams work in certain areas?

We also need more incentives to drive people away from using private cars. Now there are some jobs that require the use of a private vehicle, if, for example, a person needs to move around different localities during the day as part of their work. But do we really need to drive our car to get to an office job where we spend a whole day then only to drive back home? Realistically the answer is no… but the thought of using the current public transport system puts people off.

The issue is that everyone wants to reduce traffic on the road, but near to nobody seems willing to do anything about it. We all need to make an effort.

Perhaps the government can come up with better incentives for people to stop using private vehicles?  If it wants to go down another but less popular route, it can introduce more pay-parking schemes on streets as seen in some cities abroad. This might be less popular but could end up being more effective. But with such a move, the issue then becomes offering a viable alternative to the private car… which the government has thus far not managed to do. Without having a public transport system that more people are willing to use, such a measure would impact the poor most of all, and that is something that shouldn’t happen.

We need to have a discussion about the way forward.