The country is still waiting for a real way forward to tackle the traffic situation, and realistically speaking the issue will not be solved without major investment and a move away from the line of thought that transport infrastructure should be geared towards private vehicle use.
A survey published in June read that residents in Malta aged 16 and over make an estimated 1.36 million trips every day, averaging 2.8 trips per person per day across all modes of transport. It was good to see that public buses now account for a larger share of daily trips than in previous years, as public transport’s share reached 12.8% in 2025, up from 10.8% in 2023. But traffic is still a major problem.
In order to truly tackle the traffic issue on the island, the government has to convince people to use public transport, but it just isn’t happening at a fast enough rate, especially given the ever growing population numbers.
If traffic is to be tackled, then public transport must not be seen as a burden to use by those who drive. It would need to be made quicker, more efficient. People would rather spend time looking for parking than being stuck in traffic in a crowded bus.
The idea of introducing a trackless tram system or a rapid bus transit system, both ideas floated by politicians from both the PN and PL, is probably the easiest mass transport system that could be introduced as it would essentially involve the creation of many bus lanes, and infrastructural works to accommodate them. It would mean that public transport vehicles could just drive past traffic.
The trackless system would require a change in mindset in how the government handles road infrastructure projects, and will require more investment. Looking at the Marsa junction project and the Central Link project, wouldn’t it have been better had those projects incorporated a separate lane for buses from the outset? Because of a lack of forward planning, if the government would opt for such an idea, it would require modifications to the massive infrastructural projects which have already taken place. The move would also mean that in areas where a bus lane cannot just be added, a lane might need to be taken for it. But if we are serious about tackling traffic, then drivers also need to be open to the idea of using public transport if it were made more efficient and quick. For that to happen, confidence in public transport needs to be improved. Such lanes would, of course, only be able to run across main roads, and an extremely efficient feeder system would be needed to compliment it.
If the government were to go for a tracked mass transit system, that would require an incredible amount of funds and would take a long, long time to introduce, not to mention the sheer amount of disruptive works that would need to take place. If it wants to go down this route, it would need to think long and hard about how the works and operations could be as least disruptive as possible.
But regardless of whether it goes for one of these options, or comes up with other ideas, what is sure is that the government needs to keep working to find solutions, as what it has done until now has not worked. The key to solving Malta’s traffic problem is improving public transport to the point where people would prefer to use it over driving.
The government had launched a traffic plan earlier this year, but traffic is still an issue. There are some good points in there, such as shifting road services to off-peak hours, and even shifting hospitality, construction, retail and manufacturing deliveries to off-peak hours (although this latter point could cause issues for those operating in the sector), but regardless, if the number of private vehicles on the road just continues to rise, then these are temporary solutions. One incentive that was unveiled is government’s plan to give €25,000 for drivers to give up their licence for five years. But there are valid concerns that this will result in abuse, and realistically speaking it will likely appeal mostly to those who already barely use their vehicle.
What about incentives for people to buy motorcycles instead, or to use bicycles more, some might ask. The sheer number of accidents on the roads dissuades many from doing so. If road safety were to seriously improve, then that might have more of an effect.
Perhaps measures which are both a disincentive, but also an incentive at the same time could also come in handy. One example would be on-street paid parking in certain areas, but the money paid would go directly into an e-wallet of the driver which is then specifically used to pay for alternative transport they use. This had been an idea floated by the Malta Chamber of Commerce a while back. It would mean that people would use the money they’ve paid and on certain days not use a private vehicle, in order to spend the money in the e-wallet.