The government on Saturday presented a number of ideas which it said are aimed to ease traffic misery, the intention being to reduce the use of pruvate vehicles during peak hours.
Addressing the media, Transport Minister Chris Bonett said the government's plans are based on six points. These are a 24-hour economy, incentives to limit the use of vehicles, parking, public transport, road works coordination, and sustainable mobility.
He said that it no longer makes sense for services to be delivered at the same time. What the government is suggesting, for example, is for services such as waste collection, cleansing, landscaping and driving licence lessons to be carried out outside peak traffic hours.
This should also apply for the private sector, he said, and the government plans to have open discussions on how deliveries could be made outside peak hours. The government is also considering having cargo services leaving from the Freeport, Corradino and Valletta to avoid land traffic towards Cirkewwa.
He has again repeated the idea of offering incentives for people to give up their private driving licence and convince young people not to drive. He would not say what these incentives were, preferring to have a public discussion first.
Bonett said that more park-and-ride services should be provided in localities which are prone to parking problems and traffic congestion.
The government is also looking towards having more public places used as parking areas, such as school grounds, adding that this is already happening in Qawra and Marsascala.
A revision of public buses routes is also envisaged, as the last time this was carried out was in 2014, when Malta was a "completely different country". This measure, he added, would take place in the medium term. Bus routes could be having fewer stops while routes to industrial areas and circular routes around big localities are on the cards.
The government is also looking towards establishing a committee to coordinate roadworks, creating new standards and procedures to be followed so as to limit road closures as much as possible.
The full list of proposals and ideas can be found here.
With regard to timeline, the minister said that by the end of this year, government is set to conclude its consultation with stakeholders, as decisions on the proposed measures are to be taken within the first quarter of 2025.
The minister said that all measures should be fully implemented by the third quarter of 2026, but assured that measures which can be implemented before that date would be finished as soon as possible.