Nothing but traffic jams

One cannot but congratulate the government for exhorting everyone to protect the environment and to cut as much as possible on the consumption of fuel, by using energy savers.

On the other hand one cannot but condemn those who introduced the bus lanes system in Malta. Perhaps the original idea was genuinely well-intentioned. But since the introduction of these bus lanes we have seen nothing but long traffic jams and total chaos instead of a regulated flow of traffic.

The introduction of the bus lanes has been counter-productive. The environment is being polluted more because more fuel is being consumed because of the long traffic jams that are being created. The bus lanes are defeating all the efforts that are being made to save on fuel expenditure. Has the person who came up with the bus lanes idea, and persisted in it, ever tried to drive from Mgieret Road, opposite the Turkish cemetery, to Trunk Road during the morning rush hour? Or to drive uphill from December 13 Road to the Sta Venera bypass, going up that span of road by the mounted police section?

Has this person ever realised that buses coming out of the bus lane in December 13 Road and other vehicles in the same road, having to go uphill to the Sta Venera bypass, have to cross each other's path? Has it ever crossed this individual's mind that various dangerous accident traps have been created?

If, on the other hand, these bus lanes are such a good idea, why were they introduced only en route to Valletta? Every person would be happier arriving earlier at home and having more time to spend with the family.

Furthermore, drivers of small vehicles are to be fined Lm20 if caught driving in the bus lanes. What are the fines and penalties for the bus drivers who do not drive in the bus lanes, who drive in the outer (fast) lanes, who do not stop in the appropriate bus-stop bays, whose vehicles emit a lot of exhaust, who abuse the elderly on presentation of the Kartanzjan and who charge excessively the foreigners who board their buses?

Definitely, somewhere, something is wrong. Perhaps the people who are in charge of such things were really impressed by the writing on one of the buses which reads "King of the Road".