It is essential for there to be consensus between the government and the Opposition on the kind of long-term mass transportation project the country will go for, Nationalist Party spokesperson for Transport and Mobility Mark Anthony Sammut told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

The Malta Vision 2050 document presented by the government a few weeks ago makes mention of a mass transportation system, but does not specify the kind. "In the area of mobility, the country will continue to promote the uptake of electric vehicles, encourage the use of mobility-as-a-service platforms, and invest in long-term solutions such as mass transit systems, to improve connectivity and reduce congestion," it reads.

In past interviews, Sammut spoke of the idea of a trackless tram, or similair system. Asked if he believes this would be the best option, he said: "The problem with other options (referring to a metro or monorail), is that it will take a long time to implement and require a very large investment. The most feasible option, which can be done in a short time, is a trackless tram, which is very similair to what the government has been considering - a bus rapid transit system. It is the same concept, dedicated bus lanes for the rapid transit system."

This was a proposal that was ridiculed at first, he said, adding that it is now being considered seriously by the government. "In that respect, I believe it would help a lot if, on the long-term mass transport solution, we find consensus so that we will pave a way forward that is agreed upon by all sides, so that even if there is a change in government the project would keep being implemented to the full."

The minister hinted that he will reach out to discuss this long-term solution, the PN MP said. "I am open for that discussion. We had already met and discussed some of the short-term measures before the government launched them, but for the long-term solution it would be essential not just to discuss and consult, but to find consensus on the way forward."

Asked to rate the Reshaping our Mobility plan, which had been presented by Transport Minister Chris Bonnet, Sammut gave it a six out of 10.

"Some of the proposals are positive," Sammut said, noting that the minister "included proposals made by different bodies, NGOs and even us, the Opposition".

"One could say that time might have been wasted, and that they should have been implemented earlier, but at least there is a willingness to take proposals from everyone and start doing something."

But Sammut also had criticism to share about the government's plan, which he described as "short-sighted", saying it does not look long-term and puts the cart before the horse. "If you are going to start incentivising people to stop using their car, you first need to ensure that there are alternatives. So with this, I would have expected to see a mass transport plan, as well as more improvement to public transport."

He was referring to the government's plan to offer €25,000 over five years to drivers who ditch their driving licence.

He acknowledged the recent announcement regarding daily bus trips, but said that perhaps more could be done. "What people truly want is an alternative in which they know that they would leave point A at a specific time and arrive at point B at a specific time."

The worst thing that could happen, he said, is that the government invests money for people to give up their cars for five years, "but after five years they just go back to using their cars as they would not have found the situation convenient; would not have found a system that serves them".

Other proposals that try and change the mentality are good, he said, such as incentivising youths to delay getting a licence and use a scooter or motorbike instead. But he highlighted some issues. "If you are introducing this in the chaos and danger of today's roads, you are putting them at risk. When speaking to some parents, they are almost discouraging them from going for this initiative because everyone knows that on a two-wheeled vehicle there is a lot more danger if involved in an accident."

Before doing that, "we need to ensure that we have adequate infrastructure for bicycles, and motorbikes, and address the issues of road safety with more enforcement and stricter penalties. "We need to get the cowboys off the road," he said.

Driving licence suspensions when causing injury

He said that the length of time a driver's licence is suspended for causing injury or someone's death due to reckless driving needs to be substantially increased at law, while stressing the need for increased enforcement.

"We have the penalty point system, but how many traffic police officers do you encounter on the road? Nearly none. The only enforcement we see being carried out is by Transport Malta officials, and they seem to be focused on whether a Y-Plate vehicle stopped to park on the road during the day. When it comes to dangerous or abusive driving, you run into many examples of it happening on the road."

He referred to a recent court judgement, where a man was jailed for four years for causing the death of a passenger in their car during a collision. Sammut said that the driver had been driving dangerously, and while the driver received jail time, their driving licence "was only suspended for three months".

"So we are going to offer €25,000 to good drivers to get off the roads for five years, but then in cases of reckless or dangerous driving, which causes injury or death, when it comes to a person's driving licence it is only suspended for months."

He said that far stronger penalties in terms of licence suspensions are needed in cases where someone, due to dangerous or reckless driving, causes injury or death. "They need to be long-term suspensions," he said.

Infrastructure emergency unit

He also said that the country doesn't have an infrastructure emergency unit for handling road hazards, "which might be devastating for two-wheeled vehicle users. A dangerous pothole, dislodged manhole or culvert, or loose gravel, might have no impact on a car but might be fatal for a scooter or bicycle user. There is no system in place to report these dangers and have them addressed urgently".

Asked about penalties for using mobile phones generally while driving, he said that the recent increase in penalty was adequate, but spoke of the need of having more police officers on the road.

He said that focusing on Y-plate vehicles and minibus drivers is not leading to safer roads. "It actually made their lives impossible. After they drop off a group of people, the law expects them not to wait for them. Let's say they took a group to Mdina, the law demands that the vehicle returns to the garage and go back for them when they are done. That causes more traffic on the roads."

The country is also lacking road safety education campaigns, he said.

Regarding the government's proposal for people to give up their driving licence for five years in return for compensation, he believes that for it to be effective, "it would be ideal if it was implemented when there is a proper, efficient alternative for people to use or at least," when the country would have started implementing some of the alternative. "Otherwise it will only be incentivising people who barely use their car, which will see a far lower return on the amount spent than if people who frequently use their car to give it up."

"Another aspect we need to consider regarding public transport - especially as we begin encouraging people to give up their cars entirely - is that while services are frequent during working hours, many routes operate only once an hour on weekends and public holidays. Now if someone gave up their car, in the weekend or on a public holiday you would need to rely on buses. So there we also need to look at what improvements need to be made."

Bus connectivity in terms of routes to areas where people work needs to be improved, he said, also adding that bus frequencies at night also needs to be improved, as can reliability. So could accessibility on buses, noting that the announcement of stops on buses are not always exact.

The MP also suggests that in areas served by multiple bus routes, schedules could be better coordinated so that buses arrive at intervals rather than all at once.

What would his plan be?

Asked what kind of plan he would draft to tackle traffic in the country, he said that the first move would be to decide on and start implementing a long-term mass-transit project. "Secondly, we would go for short-term measures that can correct many problems, including better coordination on roadworks and road closures," and ensuring that when a road is dug up all entities that need to conduct works do so then, he said.

"Thirdly, we would use the tools Transport Malta has. There was investment made in screens placed along the roads which tell you the time, speed limit or that a lane is open. These could be used to advise people that a road is closed from well-before, not only as you come face-to-face with the problem, or to detail that there is a lot of traffic in certain streets."
Fourthly, he said, education campaigns should be launched to respecte others on the road, and also create more safety on the roads through more enforcement.

He reiterated the improvements that need to be made to the bus system, and said that one would then with them introduce incentives, such as incentivising youths to use other means of transport other than cars, studying the possibility of a cash grant in return for removing vehicles. "But first we need to ensure that we have an organised system."

'We need to reflect and see what we are doing wrong'

When asked about the political situation in Malta and whether he is concerned about a recent poll indicating a decline in support for the PN, he confirmed that he is. "I am concerned as my ultimate aim is for the PN to win the next general election and be in government. On the one hand we must not be fatalist; the result of the last survey shows that we are in the same water we were in during the local council elections last year. The result of the survey is nearly the same. I would have liked that almost a year after those elections we would have moved forward more, and we need to look into what we are doing wrong, the way we are delivering our message and if it is reaching people, perhaps we rely too heavily on traditional media and aren't making enough impact on the platforms people use more frequently today - many young people now get their news exclusively from social media, and we may still be lagging behind in effectively reaching them there. What is sure, he said, "is that we must never blame people or point fingers. We need to reflect and see what we are doing wrong and see where we can improve".

When it was pointed out that over the last year the rhetoric use by the two major parties has become more hateful towards one another, he was asked if this is having an impact, and whether it or a lack of public confidence in the PN's policies, might be contributing to the problem.

"Strong polarisation always works against the PN," he said, adding that the PN's group of hardcore supporters is far smaller than the PL's group.

"When there is very confrontational polarisation, which there is, people in the middle switch off - the undecided voters, the non-voters, the floating voters. The worst thing that could happen is that they switch off and stop following politics. At the end of the day those are the people you need to convince. That is why it might make sense for Labour to conduct these campaigns, as it did, to fire up and strengthen its hardcore voters - bringing Joseph Muscat back in, the attack it made on the judiciary when inquiry results began coming out, the law it passed to stop citizens from opening magisterial inquiries - these are things that galvanise the Labour hardcore supporters," he said.

"Unfortunately, these aren't things that affected the middle-of-the-road voters so much, or perhaps they are seeing these bad things but are not convinced that the PN is better," which, he added, is something the PN needs to work on.

He said that polarisation works against the PN, but continued that where one has to be angry and criticise, "we must criticise strongly. But we need to be careful for that strong criticism to remain on the argument, and never become personal. I'm not saying that we were personal, I don't think we were. In the criticism we made I don't see occasions when we ever made it personal, it was more the opposite where the Labour Party, even through its media machine, targeted people, and conducted a whole campaign saying that an MP is the de facto leader, or is controlling Bernard Grech, or forms part of an extremist faction".