There is probably no way to tackle Malta’s traffic problems without inconveniencing people. Be it the government’s work to widen roads - thus resulting in closed areas for periods of time, be it the creation of priority bus lanes, or be it by introducing measures to try and stagger traffic on the roads during peak hours.

All those methods will, in some way, inconvenience some people.

That being said, the key will be to minimize the inconvenience caused as much as possible.

An issue was highlighted by the Malta Chamber of SMEs recently in comments to The Malta Independent on Sunday.

The only measure related to traffic that was mentioned in the Budget for 2023 was a suggestion by the government to discuss how some services should start to be provided only after 9am. The idea is to ease the morning traffic flow, allowing time for workers to reach their factories and offices, and for schools to open, before vehicles providing such services are allowed on the road. The government did not specify which services it had in mind.

Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia has also mentioned the idea of staggering services throughout the morning, late at night or before dawn.

But, Chamber of SMEs CEO Abigail Agius Mamo said that so far discussions are informal. “From what I understand, everything is being considered, including aspects not affecting just business,” Agius Mamo said.

She highlighted about this particular idea, however, that businesses will need to open far beyond their normal operational hours if certain services will start to be offered after 9am.

 Agius Mamo said that it is obvious that there are big challenges to overcome. Several changes and sacrifices would have to be made to put this initiative into effect.

 “Obviously, exploring non-peak hours also includes night time. Finding people is already a very big problem. Finding people who would work such odd hours is much bigger,” Agius Mamo said.

Changes would not only necessitate a shift in the delivery system of services, but also a shift for the place where the goods would be leaving from, and where the goods would be arriving, she said. “Businesses receiving the goods will need to also open far outside their normal operational hours as the goods cannot just be dumped on the sidewalk,” she said, adding that this would entail an “enormous” shift not just for the delivery part of the service.

She mentioned that, where deliveries already happen at night, it raises complaints from residents due to noise. “It is really a case where sacrifices will need to be made by everyone and we need to appreciate that a lot of support is needed to limit the pain caused,” she said.

“We obviously do not want to go through all this sacrifice and not get tangible benefits. It is however a very complicated situation and we need to give the solutions time, and most importantly we have to start from something,” Agius Mamo said. She continued that there are sectors where implementing this initiative would be much easier than others.A sked if this measure would truly decrease or mitigate traffic, especially considering that the number of cars on Maltese roads is ever-increasing, Agius Mamo said that traffic is a common problem and everyone needs to pitch in to find the solution. By “all” Agius Mamo said that this does not mean just businesses.

The points she raised are all valid. But at the same time, we need to start tackling the traffic problems in the country, and this is one possible method. What needs to happen, is that studies should take place to see just how much of an impact such services have on traffic and, more specifically, which services have the highest impact. For instance, smaller delivery vans might not have as much of an impact on traffic at peak hours than large construction vehicles.

All the issues highlighted and the potential benefits of such a change will need to be discussed properly not just within the MCESD, but with the public as a whole. Such a change on its own would need to, of course, go hand-in-hand with other measures to truly have an impact. The ultimate aim must always be to encourage people to use their private vehicles less and for that to happen, we need to make public transport more attractive.