Victoria traffic management - 3

Dr Joseph Ellis, a lawyer, added his views to those of Labour councillor Joe Cordina on the traffic problem in Victoria, which were reported last week.

He said it is an indisputable fact that Victoria is facing a serious parking problem. The steady influx of visitors during weekends and the summer months created unsustainable difficulties with regard to the decreasing number of available parking spaces. Dr Ellis said: "One should not tackle the problem merely from the point of view of the current availability of parking slots but also from that of their ever-growing demand. Victoria is the cultural and commercial capital of this island and thus residents from the outlying villages need to get to Victoria for a multitude of reasons." Dr Ellis explained that during the week, a substantial amount of parking-slots were taken up both by public and private sector employees who park their cars during working hours, as well as by people who go to Victoria to do their shopping. This situation is dictated by a primitive and inadequate public transportation system that does not provide comfortable access to Victoria from the villages and back. Indeed, in some areas, not only is the bus transport infrequent but it is practically close to non-existent, thereby creating serious difficulties for all those people who either do not own a car or do not drive. "The public transport system in Gozo is urgently in need of a radical overhaul, which both the Ministry for Gozo and the Transport Authority should look into with renewed vigour. Unfortunately, one increasingly gets the impression that public transportation is being left to its own devices, while on their part the operators of public transport who enjoy a certain monopoly are more interested in reducing the already insufficient service than in expanding it to meet the existing demand."

Dr Ellis suggests that, as a minimum, there should be two round-the-clock circular services to the villages on the west part and on the east part of the island, leaving and arriving at the Victoria terminus. In this way, village residents can get to Victoria with comfort and in good time without using their cars.

He said that the Victoria council should also adopt a pro-active approach to the problem by putting the revenues that it derives from parking contraventions and commercial licences to good use. A mini-bus service should be implemented, preferably with electric vehicles, so that visitors and residents can travel around the town in comfort.

Such a measure would provide a much-needed boost to those commercial establishments where parking is difficult or indeed, not even permitted, such as pedestrianised zones and would discourage the use of vehicles, thereby diminishing the collateral effects on Victoria residents of pollution, which can trigger diseases such as asthma. "Obviously, these measures on their own will not entirely resolve the problem," Dr Ellis said. "Parking meters in some streets could provide another way to handle the situation.

More parking areas, perhaps even a multistorey car park, should be built. Moreover, the parking space used by Government employees in the area behind the Ministry should be made available to private parking in non-office hours. "A thorough review of the considerable number of parking spaces reserved for one reason or another should also be carried out.

"However the sanctioning of parking zones in historical sites should be treated with great caution and any threat to the stability of the bastions of the imposing Citadel since when these bastions have become 'modest' as reported in the commentary of The Sunday Times of July 25 should be avoided at all costs ."