Exhausting work
One of the major jobs the public authorities will have during the life of this government will be to fit the wheels of a proper transport policy on to the many vehicles that will continue to crowd our small islands. Already we have one of the highest...
One of the major jobs the public authorities will have during the life of this government will be to fit the wheels of a proper transport policy on to the many vehicles that will continue to crowd our small islands. Already we have one of the highest car densities per capita in the world, with around three vehicles for every five persons, including children and the elderly. The effects of the packed density are exacerbated by the tiny size of our islands and hence of the road network.
The fact that so many roads, both urban as well as inter-town, remain in a substandard state further aggravates the problem.
The situation will be affected by two principal factors in the five years ahead. On the one hand, the number of vehicles will continue to increase, both in number as well as relative to the population. That will happen because our people tend to import some 10,000 vehicles annually, without totally decommissioning an equivalent number of old cars.
The impact of such a net inflow will be multiple. To the extent that new cars are of the modern, "clean" type, it will have a positive effect. But that will be offset, in fact overwhelmed, by the "inefficient" old cars remaining on the road. The regulatory vehicle test should bring about improvements in old cars and other vehicles so as to reduce emissions.
It is a sad and well-known fact, however, that too many vehicles, not least the older public buses and most of the trucks used by the building industry, pollute the air daily practically without check. The warden system continues to burgeon when it comes to issuing tickets for incorrect parking but it has failed abysmally in checking and bringing to book polluting vehicles.
The promises made by the previous government have remained little more than that. Winking and nudging ticket bookings to a much reduced pace before the election is hardly a substitute for a proper warden's policy...
The second principal factor which will affect the impact of transport on the common citizen and visitors alike will be the leap in quality expected from the deployment of funds from the European Union. The outgoing government made some progress, with considerable assistance from the remaining funds under the last Italian protocol as well as pre-accession funds. Outgoing Minister Jesmond Mugliett should at least be credited with that. Critical highways and a considerable number of urban roads were upgraded.
But that made only a small dent in the state of the road network. The impact over the next five years should be much stronger. More funds will be available to the Malta Transport Authority (ADT). More than that, perhaps, is the fact that the authority now forms part of Minister Austin Gatt's portfolio. Dr Gatt is rough and rough, and he endears himself to very few outside the ring of sycophants every minister, past, present and future, is surrounded with.Yet there can be no doubt that he is a doer. He sets targets and strides out to achieve them. It is not so much that, as an astute political animal, he will be highly aware of the harm resulting from the often justified accusations of incompetence inflicted upon the first Gonzi Cabinet.
Above all, he stands for no nonsense, even if his methods are not always beyond reproach.
The road network should be barely recognisable by the time the next general election comes around. But by then, the volume of vehicles on the road will gobble up a considerable chunk of the advantages a much enhanced network should bring to drivers and pedestrians alike. Congestions will grow. Despite the Mġarr-type link roads, delays could become the order of the day.
It would be educational if the Malta Environmental and Planning Authority and the ADT were to publish projections they surely have of the impact that the forecast increase in vehicles will have on our projected road network. It will be educational, hopefully persuading some people to review their lax use of cars. It will also be instructive to the tax and transport policy makers.
The tax system will have to be deployed more vigorously to discourage the use of fuel-wasting and polluting vehicles, and to nudge more people into more careful use of transport, car-sharing and such like. Transport policy will have to revisit areas so far explored without success, such as the old tram system, and completely new avenues such as a carefully designed underground network.
Whether we like it or not it is almost certain that, in the lifetime of the young generation if not our own, plans will have to be laid to go underground to add to the various traffic-reducing schemes that will be in place, including many more park-and-ride arrangements.
Much will be done in the years ahead. It will not be nearly enough.
The fact that so many roads, both urban as well as inter-town, remain in a substandard state further aggravates the problem.
The situation will be affected by two principal factors in the five years ahead. On the one hand, the number of vehicles will continue to increase, both in number as well as relative to the population. That will happen because our people tend to import some 10,000 vehicles annually, without totally decommissioning an equivalent number of old cars.
The impact of such a net inflow will be multiple. To the extent that new cars are of the modern, "clean" type, it will have a positive effect. But that will be offset, in fact overwhelmed, by the "inefficient" old cars remaining on the road. The regulatory vehicle test should bring about improvements in old cars and other vehicles so as to reduce emissions.
It is a sad and well-known fact, however, that too many vehicles, not least the older public buses and most of the trucks used by the building industry, pollute the air daily practically without check. The warden system continues to burgeon when it comes to issuing tickets for incorrect parking but it has failed abysmally in checking and bringing to book polluting vehicles.
The promises made by the previous government have remained little more than that. Winking and nudging ticket bookings to a much reduced pace before the election is hardly a substitute for a proper warden's policy...
The second principal factor which will affect the impact of transport on the common citizen and visitors alike will be the leap in quality expected from the deployment of funds from the European Union. The outgoing government made some progress, with considerable assistance from the remaining funds under the last Italian protocol as well as pre-accession funds. Outgoing Minister Jesmond Mugliett should at least be credited with that. Critical highways and a considerable number of urban roads were upgraded.
But that made only a small dent in the state of the road network. The impact over the next five years should be much stronger. More funds will be available to the Malta Transport Authority (ADT). More than that, perhaps, is the fact that the authority now forms part of Minister Austin Gatt's portfolio. Dr Gatt is rough and rough, and he endears himself to very few outside the ring of sycophants every minister, past, present and future, is surrounded with.Yet there can be no doubt that he is a doer. He sets targets and strides out to achieve them. It is not so much that, as an astute political animal, he will be highly aware of the harm resulting from the often justified accusations of incompetence inflicted upon the first Gonzi Cabinet.
Above all, he stands for no nonsense, even if his methods are not always beyond reproach.
The road network should be barely recognisable by the time the next general election comes around. But by then, the volume of vehicles on the road will gobble up a considerable chunk of the advantages a much enhanced network should bring to drivers and pedestrians alike. Congestions will grow. Despite the Mġarr-type link roads, delays could become the order of the day.
It would be educational if the Malta Environmental and Planning Authority and the ADT were to publish projections they surely have of the impact that the forecast increase in vehicles will have on our projected road network. It will be educational, hopefully persuading some people to review their lax use of cars. It will also be instructive to the tax and transport policy makers.
The tax system will have to be deployed more vigorously to discourage the use of fuel-wasting and polluting vehicles, and to nudge more people into more careful use of transport, car-sharing and such like. Transport policy will have to revisit areas so far explored without success, such as the old tram system, and completely new avenues such as a carefully designed underground network.
Whether we like it or not it is almost certain that, in the lifetime of the young generation if not our own, plans will have to be laid to go underground to add to the various traffic-reducing schemes that will be in place, including many more park-and-ride arrangements.
Much will be done in the years ahead. It will not be nearly enough.