The government has recently published its vision for public transport. Although the government's strategy for the development of public transport must have been baked for a couple of months, the document was made public soon after the strike by transport operators following the announcement of the liberalisation of operating licences.

I believe there is general agreement on the need for reform, essentially because the public is dissatisfied with the service it is getting.

This is proven by the fact that car ownership in Malta is exceedingly high, when it should not be so, given our small size.

Moreover, the extent of usage of our own car is higher than it should be because we prefer to use private means rather than public transport.

This is not a sign of progress, but of a need for urgent reform.

It needs to be a reform that takes into account the social needs of the public, the needs of various economic activities such as tourism and the environment.

Therefore, the need is for a reform that makes public transport sustainable in the long term.

Over the years we have sought to back the public transport system through direct support to the operators.

The logic was that if we support the operators, the price for public transport would remain low, and the public would feel that it is being adequately served.

The fact is that the price of public transport is, without doubt very low, but the public is not adequately served, as shown by a decreasing level of custom. Thus satisfaction with the service depends on factors that go beyond an issue of price.

These other factors could include the nature of the schedule and the level of reliability of the service, the level of comfort of the buses, the level of customer care - in a nutshell, the level of convenience of using public transport.

In other words, the old thinking that as long as the price is cheap, it does not really matter how inconvenient the service is, can no longer be considered as valid. Therefore, the need for a new way of thinking and a new transport policy becomes of paramount importance.

The document published by the government does send the message that when we speak of public transport, we are not referring only to buses, that take us from our homes to somewhere else, be it our place of work, a place of entertainment, school, or the residence of a relative. For example in the UK, you would find people who drive their own car to the train station and then catch a train to go wherever they need to go. We have something similar in the Park and Ride Project of Valletta. Thus, a possible mix of public and private means of transport is one way how an element of rationalisation can take place.

Then, there is need to develop alternative means of public transport. The most obvious alternative is transport by sea. We would not be reinventing the wheel if we were to reintroduce a sustainable service between Valletta and Cottonera and between Valletta and Sliema by sea. I would also not ignore a mix of large public transport vehicles that would operate on the main line routes acting as feeders to smaller vehicles that would operate within towns and villages or between villages that are contiguous to each other. If minibuses are suitable to take children to school, why are they not suitable to transport other people? The use of courtesy vehicles by five-star hotels for clients is a constant reminder of a missed opportunity for public transport operators.

The title of this week's contribution is Transport Policy, even if it dealt exclusively with public transport. The distinction is not to be missed.

We have been very good at developing a maritime transport policy that has served us well, even if it may now need updating.

The country also needs a comprehensive inland transport policy, as focussing only on public transport would leave half the work undone.

Then, we also need an air transport policy to complete the job. I believe we only need to remind ourselves of the critical role transport plays in the economy and society at large, to appreciate how much we require an all encompassing transport policy.