In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, an urban planner said that 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 system.

This newsroom has long said that something needs to be done to reduce traffic on the roads, and urban planner John Ebejer's idea is an interesting one. Another idea that had been proposed, by the PN, was a trackless tram concept, which would not really need new infrastructure per se.

But regardless of the option, the main point is that it is time for the government to start thinking outside the box, and think more holistically when it comes to tackling transport issues.

It is clear as day that the idea of a majority underground rail system as had been proposed by the government was a non-starter, in terms of the time it would take to get up and running, the massive inconvenience that excavation works would cause and so on. But an on the ground system, with some small parts underground to avoid congestion areas, or a trackless system altogether, could be a viable option and are worthy of consideration.

Of course the implementation of such a project will cause inconvenience. For example, a trackless tram would require dedicated lanes for the tram, while a tracked tram would require the same. It would also mean that in some areas parking spaces might need to be taken up, or two-lane roads to become one-lane roads.

But one must also look at the inconvenience there is today anyway. Traffic at nearly all times of day, difficulty to find parking in certain localities, such as Sliema, St Julian's, Zebbug, St Paul's Bay, parts of Mellieha, for instance.

This newsroom has said before that a trackless tram could be effective, but only if people start switching from using their cars to using such a transport option.  The same could be said for a tracked tram.

In order to minimise the inconvenience that such a project would cause, and to ensure  people shift from using their cars, such a project would need to be done in tandem with other projects and measures. For example, large underground parking areas near multiple major tram stops across the country would need to be created, buses would also need to feed into the tram stops, there would need to be measures to incentivise people to give up the use of their cars. We would need measures to reduce the car-dependant culture and the service provided would need to be one that does not lead to people missing their cars, meaning it would need to be quick, frequent and efficient.

The tram options mentioned above are two ideas that are worthy of consideration, at least to examine and explore whether such concepts would have a major impact on reducing traffic in Malta, and to check whether people would be willing to use such transport models instead of their cars, especially if they are implemented in a way where people can just park their car in a car park and hop on, so to speak.

The government unveiled a transport plan recently for public consultation, that does include measures which can help reduce traffic, such as off-peak service provision, better coordination of road works, revising bus routes etc.

These are good ideas and will help, but the issue Malta has is that there are too many cars on the roads. In order to reduce the number of cars, a good, viable alternative that people are willing to use more often needs to be introduced. Perhaps the revised bus routes will do that, but the government should also start considering other ideas, such as the aforementioned tram ideas, and examine if such proposals would work also. Traffic is a growing problem in the country, and if new ideas aren't considered soon, then the problem will just continue to grow without any real solutions being found.  The major political parties also need to work together to ensure continuity in plans to tackle traffic.