Park and Ride detour

I'm afraid that Major Stanley Clews (The Sunday Times, July 22) had reacted more to the hypothetical situation in my letter rather than to the real objective.

This was to bring to the attention of the Transport Authority (ADT) and the authorities concerned that the central lane on the Floriana traffic lights near MEPA that came into use as part of the Park and Ride project, is a deterrent to anyone travelling to Valletta.

Instead of allowing private vehicles to use this lane to cross St Anne Street just as is done by the red minibuses, vehicular traffic to Valletta must travel in the opposite direction to Blata l-Bajda to reach the city. What's the difference if the central lane is used just by mini- buses or by all vehicles? Isn't there the traversing set of traffic lights that control this same passage?

There are also matters, like additional traffic travelling in the Marsa/Hamrun direction, fuel consumption and engine emissions, that are to be considered.

In the present route, there are four sets of traffic lights to chance in order to get to Valletta and I know of people who prefer to travel to Pietà to reach the city via Sa Maison.

The Park and Ride project was something that we badly needed and which I support, albeit a little fine tuning that comes with time and by not taking everything for granted. I had written about this matter to ADT when one of my colleagues was involved in an accident some weeks ago, but did not even receive an acknowledgement.

These lights don't even have 'stop and walk lights' to indicate when a pedestrian is to cross or wait. I know of many who share my opinion on these lights but rather than be the traditional Maltese gemgem, I was the only one who bothered to publicly express my opinion.

I consider this matter closed and hope that this inconvenience is remedied.