In one of the many reports and assessments which this government commissioned over the past years we were informed that the heavy investment on road infrastructure would reduce our time spent in traffic. Addressing traffic congestion, we were told, could reduce the substantial number of minutes per week which we spend stuck in traffic. After this week’s traffic accident, as a result which most of Malta’s central roads were jammed for hours, these assessments could need going back to the drawing board.

Our roads are bursting at the seams. We all agree that this is an accurate statement. Realistically, however, the problem we face is with identifying sustainable solutions addressing the issue.

Government has opted for the solution which focuses on an upgrading of the road network: widening roads, reorganising road intersections, constructing flyovers and underpasses. These solutions may reduce commuting time in the short term. However, in the long term, as is confirmed by studies at an international level, these measures inevitably increase the number of cars on our roads, as a result making the situation even worse than it is now. We are slowly witnessing the veracity of this claim.

This is a policy which sends one clear message to all: the private car is the transport policy-makers’ preferred mode of transport. It is a policy option that is clearly unsustainable and needs to be scrapped the soonest.

Instead of addressing the effect, that is traffic congestion, we need to focus on the cause of the problem. The Transport Master Plan for the Maltese Islands clearly identifies this cause: our dependency on the private car. Transport policy ignores this altogether.

Malta’s transport policy-makers have, time and again, failed to understand that the foundations of transport policy in Malta have to be based on the simple fact that everywhere is close by, a stone’s throw away. An efficient public transport system would solve most of our mobility needs sustainably. However, for public transport to feature more prominently in the manner we select our mobility requirements, subsidies are not enough. We need a change in mind-set.

After more than sixty years of neglect, the policy-makers need to take a clear stand to encourage alternatives to owning and driving a car. It is only then that public transport can take its rightful place as the leading – and preferred – provider of sustainable mobility in our islands. This could be supplemented with sea-transport, cycling and walking. As a result of fewer cars on our roads, both cycling and walking would undoubtedly become more attractive options.

The ever-increasing number of cars on our roads is not a sign of effluence. It is rather the most solid proof that policy-makers have failed to come to grips with the real issues of sustainable mobility in a small country.

Removal of fuel subsidies could be of considerable help in addressing traffic congestion!  The primary impact of the removal of subsidies applied to petrol and diesel would be beneficial as it would help in ensuring that car users shoulder the most obvious cost of their decision. This could lead to an immediate reduction of cars from our roads and a consequent improvement in air quality. It would also be a basic signal that the private car is not the preferred mode of transport.

Some may need to be reminded that 50 per cent of private car trips on our roads are utilised for the travelling of short distances. Most of these trips, as a result of a realistic price of fuel, could be shifted to public transport or other alternative modes of sustainable mobility.  As we know, public transport is free of charge. This includes the use of sea ferries between Valletta and Bormla as well as those between Valletta and Sliema.

Rather than a policy of upgrading our roads we need a policy of transition, that slowly nudges our behaviour from one as a result of which cars rule our roads to one where our mobility is addressed in a sustainable manner primarily through a substantially increased use of public transport. It will obviously take time to reverse a 60-year neglect – as a result of which the state in Malta abdicated its duty to offer guidance leading to the development of sustainable mobility solutions.

 

An architect and civil engineer, the author is a former Chairperson of ADPD-The Green Party in Malta.  [email protected] ,   http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com