To improve the country's public transport, bolster tourism and boost people's quality of life, Malta must invest in modern trams, also referred to as Light Rail Transit, LRT, John Ebejer an urban planner and an academic at the University of Malta, said.
In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, Ebejer speaks about his vision for Malta's public transport. Ebejer is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta within the Faculty of Economics, Management & Accountancy's (FEMA). The academic is also an urban planner; he was involved in the 1990 Structure Plan for the Maltese islands and has worked with consultants specifically on transport. He specialises in cities, tourism, urban spaces, and transport.
The government should seek the advice of international transport experts, possibly ones who have experience of installing tram systems in cities overseas. Public opinion is important in such decisions but what is more important is the advice of experts who have a proper understanding of transport planning as well as the technical and design know how.
In spite of the government's efforts to promote the usage of public transport, including making all bus and ferry fares free for Tallinja card holders, Ebejer believes that "much more can be done to improve the bus system" as bus commuters continue to be plagued by long waiting times and reliability issues.
"If you know the route and if it is a route that is frequently used, then, more or less, you get a reasonably good service," he said. "But if it's a bit out of the norm in terms of location or time, then the levels of unreliability increase."
Ebejer advocates a complete revamp of the public transport system - one that relies on both tram and bus services, similar to systems that have been introduced in many cities across Europe. He also noted that there needs to be a culture change whereby people living in the Maltese islands must move away from their reliance on driving private cars.
"There needs to be a culture change and you do not bring a culture change overnight. There needs to be political leadership in this culture change," he said.
The urban planner and academic said that this culture change needs to be led by the government and its authorities by verbally promoting the use of public transport to encourage people to use these services. He added that this encouragement must be delivered on top of augmenting investments into everything that goes into public transport experiences, such as in bus shelters and in improving walkability around these areas.
He added that this culture change would include deterring people from using their private-owned cars in favour of public transport. Inevitably along some roads some on-street parking would have to be removed. This would be necessary to allow for the passage of the tram vehicle. The scholar argued that, where there is high demand for parking, free on-street parking should become a thing of the past for non-residents.
"The implementation of a radically improved public transport system should be part of an overall holistic transport strategy, which should include provision of parking - including off-street parking," Ebejer stated.
Malta is comparable to a medium-sized city and the public transport systems should be designed accordingly. He categorises medium-sized cities to have a population varying from 500,000 to one and a half million (1,500,000) people.
"In many medium-sized cities across Europe, there is a public transport system which serves the needs of the residents. In most cases, it is based on a combination of tram and bus services," Ebejer said.
Ebejer said that if the country had to consult with local and foreign transport planners on Malta's public transport system, they would determine what is required through "proper assessments" of the demand for travel based on appropriate surveys.
The typical design of public transport in a European city is a network of tram routes in the central areas of the city where the demand for travel is highest. These would be augmented with bus services that connect the central areas of the city to periphery of the city.
Do we have space for tram lines nowadays?
Ebejer stated that one of the main drawbacks behind the development of a tram system are the questions of available space. Since trams run through their own dedicated tracks/lines, designated space is required for these long vehicles to run that cannot be shared by other road vehicles.
Regarding this, the urban planner suggested that space can be made if the characteristics of certain main roads are amended in order to make way for a tram line to pass through. Using Rue d'Argens as an example, Ebejer said that sufficient space can be made for a one-way lane for the tram and another one-way lane for the traffic. This is possible if parking spaces along the long road are removed.
He said that similarly, there are many other examples where the implementation of trams would probably result in a loss of parking but the benefit would be having tram services accessing areas where they are needed most.
Successful implementation of a tram system will, in the long run result, in a reduction of cars on the road and hence less traffic congestion.
Ebejer did not exclude that some sections of this urban rail transit would need to pass underground due to traffic congestion or other reasons. However, the academic ascertained that this should be "doable" and that any costs incurred by the development of a tram system would be well worth it, given the rail transit's advantages to Malta.
Potential drawbacks: costs and parking reform
Ebejer referenced costs as one of the main drawbacks behind the introduction of a tram system; this pertains to costs for the project's initial development plus costs to maintain the service.
However, he is firm that "the benefits are so overwhelming that it is well worth the costs."
"It is not going to be popular politically, but parking has to be priced," the urban planner told this newsroom.
He added that in his view, "in Malta, we have this idea that on-street parking is free everywhere, which is not realistic." With the exception of residents, on-street parking cannot remain free and must convert to being a priced service. Henceforth, he advocated in favour of residential parking schemes - an idea which, he said, the current government has been against since 2013. Since then, 12 localities have applied to have residential parking schemes - all of which were rejected. These requests were made by the respective local councils of Attard, Balzan, Birkirkara, Cospicua, Gudja, Għaxaq, Iklin, Luqa, Mosta, St Paul's Bay, Sliema, and Ħaż-Żebbuġ.
"We need residential parking schemes; we need to protect residents and enable them to park cars," Ebejer said, "Outsiders who come and find a place to park should pay."
Ebejer commented that rather than speak about the negative impacts of trams, "we should speak of the negative impacts of the current situation." He said that the current situation on our roads is negatively affecting the environment while imposing social and economic costs on society.
Ebejer detailed to this newsroom how present public transport - aggravated by worsening traffic congestion and the sustained net influx of cars into the islands - is imposing a social on cost on people's lives while obstructing the potential of Malta's economic growth.
"A poor public transport system isolates people and that is a social cost," he said.
Ebejer explained that when people, for whatever reason, have their ability to move around impeded, there grows a risk of those persons being isolated from society. As examples, he referred to how elderly people who cannot drive may become isolated in their own homes. He also said that efficient tram and bus services would be financially beneficial for young people - especially with the ever-increasing cost of living resulting in some youths already struggling to afford to enjoy their leisure time outside.
From the economic standpoint, Ebejer noted that "bad public transport is bad for economic growth". For example London is an economic success "because its transport system is super efficient." Of course you cannot compare London with Malta in terms of size but the principle is equally applicable - cities require efficient transport systems for their economic success.
'Not enough' is being done to improve public transport
Ebejer told this newsroom that if and when trams are introduced, it would be safe to assume that at that point, "the authorities would make every effort to encourage people to shift from cars to public transport." Reduced car usage will result in significant environmental benefits including reduced traffic congestion and pollution.
"In terms of car ownership, that is not going to change overnight. Many who own a car would probably continue to use it at least until they realise the advantages of efficient services from trams and buses," Ebejer noted.
The academic remarked how many low-income people, including young people reaching or just exceeding the legal driving age, consider purchasing a car, even though owning a vehicle incurs regular costs to maintain and use it.
"If we have a good public transport system, low-income people would not consider buying a car," he said. Similarly young people would go to their place of study, work or entertainment by means of public transport which would be far cheaper than owning a car.
'We need an improved public transport system also for tourism'
Ebejer stated that tourism nowadays is vastly different to three decades ago; tourists in Malta are less reliant on tourist operators and package tours as there has been a shift in favour of independent travelling. Therefore, since tourists are looking to move around destination Malta by themselves, the efficiency of public transport has grown in importance for this sector too, he argued.
He stated that someone unfamiliar with a place would feel "very uneasy" to use buses since they're more difficult to use.
"With trams nowadays, it is so easy. Trams come every five minutes and don't get blocked in traffic with having their own tracks," the urban planner said, "it is more reliable, you know that you'll get from A to B in a specified timeframe... there is no question mark. With buses, that is the difficulty - there is that unreliability that a Maltese resident might plan their day around, but for a tourist, it can be a big problem."
Ebejer said that there exist several localities across the country, such as Balzan, Żurrieq, Siġġiewi, and Żejtun amongst others, that have attractive yet inaccessible village cores because of the country's lack of an "efficient public transport system". Additionally, he pointed out that tourists who are residing in one of these non-touristic localities via AirBnB "are almost stuck in that place unless they are willing to pay good money to rent a car or are willing to use a taxi."
Ebejer also stated that Malta's sub-optimal public transport is limiting the potential of AirBnBs for landlords.
The academic mentioned that when foreign companies consider investing somewhere, they consider various factors such as that location's quality of life and the liveability of a city. The latter includes the quality of that place's public transport, he said.
Ebejer said that "public transport is very important also for commercial activity," given that transport is people's gateway to access different areas.
"If people can only get to your establishment by car, businesses are very limited in how they can grow and develop," he said.
In October 2024, EY Malta conducted its 20th attractiveness survey, in which just 54% of existing FDI investors considered Malta to be an attractive location. This percentage showed a 5% drop from 2023 and illustrated a 33% drop since the decade-high measurement of 87% attractiveness in 2016. Malta's attractiveness pre-pandemic (2019) was registered at 77%. From this study, just 16% of investors positively rated Malta's transport and logistics infrastructure.