‘Cars must be curbed’

rgalea

Jul 28th 2010, 12:21

Well, why don't the politicians set the example?

Go to parliament by bus......and free up parking spaces to boot.

G.Pisani

Jul 28th 2010, 09:43

Is there a reason(Except Money) why we do not have an underground tram yet? I mean I would definatly use it if it that means getting to work in 5-10 mins or to mellieha in a few minutes!! I mean all of Malta is nothing more but a big City Centre. We should have this transport.

paquita sultana

Jul 28th 2010, 09:24

I agree with C Cassar's comments about limiting cars/per family and making it safer, cheaper & easier to use alternative forms of transport. I have long suggested this. Bermuda (with it's size limitations & in order to protect the environment and quality of life for all does the same). Check this out www.bermuda-online.org/wheels.htm

The problem in Malta is the pressure placed on a weak government from brand importers & distributors to allow the uncontrolled importation of new/second hand cars. No one truly gives a hoot about the environment, the traffic jams or the lousy air quality which may contribute to everyone's cancerous demise one day. They only care about making a quick buck.

Robert Agius

Jul 28th 2010, 08:04

...and someone please remind me why many people opt for cars again?

It's a tad to l8 to change habits now innit. Then again, what do you expect from a country run by twats.

p.s. I don't own a car, most of the time I do not even use public transport but use my own legs. I think I should ask for compensation....

C Cassar

Jul 27th 2010, 19:50

The driving age lower limit should be raised to 25 and only one car per household allowed and nothing that produces over 100gm/CO2. So many Maltese moan about air quality and yet they are in their own cars every day, even for journeys of less than a km. Very hypocritical. Until the number of cars is drastically reduced, nothing will change.

w.scicluna

Jul 27th 2010, 19:20

The government should consider the practicality and emission levels of 2 wheeled vehicles. By reducing or removing the high registration tax, the population has this option. A small engined motorcycle or scooter is practical, has very low emissions, sips fuel solves the parking and congestion problem.

Jon Mallia

Jul 27th 2010, 18:31

What an idiot! And come to think of it, he is the head of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority Environment Directorate.

If they want to find a solution to a problem, these people try to do so by creating 20 other problems. The real solution is simple: fine cars exhuding black smoke (of which there are many) until they are out of our roads, build flyovers so as to avoid lights and underground crossings so as to remove zebra crossings, give us a good 24 hour public transport service, encourage cycling by building bicycle lanes and do your best to enhance the smooth flow of traffic.

Your proposed solution is no solution at all. It is the creation of an even-bigger problem. MEPA should be ashamed to be your employer.

Charles Falzon

Jul 27th 2010, 18:00

Malta's biggest polluters are the buses, commercial transport and the creation of bottlenecks in onelane roads. VRT was intended to curb pollution, now its big business. What a sick joke!

Leon Zawadzki

Jul 27th 2010, 15:25

Please, Please do not try to encourage more people to use public transport, by doing this you are contributing to the pollution of Malta. I live in Msida on the Rue 'Argens, a road that is well known for the amount of exhaust pollution in the air. By increasing passengers on public transport you also increase the load which in turn increases the power on vehicle engines which in turn increases the exhaust fumes generated. More exhaust fumes are produced by heavy over loaded trucks and buses than all the cars that use the road. This is further exasperated by the one way system that forces vehicles to go up a fairly steep incline in a lower gear requiring even greater effort from the vehicle's engine. Its about time that MEPA looked and reaccessed local road condition and traffic signs especially on one way streets. Why is it that on a lot of small one way street going up hill, you come across a halt sign to stop, to give way to traffic on a level one way street coming from the right. Again the driver is forced to use more engine energy to go forward uphill. Think about it.

John Spiteri

Jul 27th 2010, 14:25

Mr Seychell should set an example himself. walk to work, do his errands on foot etc. but this is another example of hypocrites insisting that we do what they say and not as they do.

without cars we are serfs. no thank you - whatever measures you introduce - public transport usage will continue to shrink cause at the end of the day it can never compare to the convenience afforded by a car. can you imagine having to do the all too frequent errands which very often entail going to different towns with public transport? it would take you all day long.

but perhaps all this is an excuse for another tax and thus the likes of Mr. Seychell would probably afford to continue to 'pollute' whilst the lesser well off would have to eat cake.

DVella

Jul 27th 2010, 14:13

hmm . . . Interesting that Mr Seychell should point out emissions standards . . . considering that the main culprits of pollution on our roads . . . such as most buses, several taxis, plant vehicles, red vans and trade delivery vehicles get away with their daily routine of regaling us with billowing clouds of black, brown or grey smoke with TOTAL impunity!!! I have yet to see a single bus, van or other vehicle hauled off the road for having a sub-standard engine and causing excessive pollution!!! It is futile to talk about emissions stqandards when we clearly don't have any!!!

. . average lifespan of Maltese cars is 15 years . . . of course, that would explain why there are a large number of pieces of junk still on our roads after more than twenty years . . . some of which are even decorated to look like a tart's handbag with big wheels, alloy rims, wide (noisy) exhaust pipes and the mandatory cheap hi-fi churning out some brainless auditory assault at indecent volumes. Perhaps Mr Seychell needs to venture forth onto our local roads to obtain a clearer picture of reality!

lgalea

Jul 27th 2010, 14:11

What I cannot figure out is why is the car license not paid according to the amount of pollution and on the age of the vehicle. Age has got nothing to do with pollution because a vehicle which has only been on the road for a month may be emitting more harmful emission than a 20-year old one which had been impeccably maintained. This also applies to an old vehicle which has had a newer engine fitted. Why should the owner pay according to the age of the vehicle? This is only to protect car importers who want people to change their vehicles quite so often notwithstanding that they are still in perfect shape.

T Camilleri

Jul 27th 2010, 14:08

The greatest polluters are Enemalta, buses, trucks and Government vehicles and not private vehicles although I wonder how some private vehicle manage to pass the VRT.

D.Galea

Jul 27th 2010, 14:00

It seems that all this rhetoric by the way it's put is only another attempt to seek where to spin more money for the government rather then a sincere attempt to address the problem. Please do not be so dishonest, for our Children.

martin saliba

Jul 27th 2010, 13:31

And in the mean time these same people who are allways warnig us about poloution from cars go drive around in feul guzzling monsters. Lead by example or you will never be credible.

Joe Morana

Jul 27th 2010, 13:29

One wonders how motor vehicle pollution can be adequately addressed. While MEPA is responsible for the quality of air we breathe Transport Malta (TM) is responsible for the Motor Vehicle Regulations and for the Motor Vehicle Roadworthiness Regulations.
In the case of Sliema TM argues that more develolpment in this locality will precipitate the already precarious traffic and air pollution situation and that it can do next to nothing to mitigate these probelms because of the inadequate Sliema roads infrastrucure. MEPA on the other hand keeps granting building permits in Sliema and expects TM to solve the traffic managment problems Sliema. TM further expects the Sliema Local Council (SLC) to submit traffic management proposals for the locoality while the SLC ecpects TM to carry out a holistic traffic management plan for Sliema. In the meantime nothing gets done and the situation keeps getting worse.

GVella

Jul 27th 2010, 12:55

Public or shared transport will only substitute private or personal transport when it outperforms the latter in terms of availability, flexibility, convenience and reliability apart from cost. The major problem is that we have to make a very significant paradigm shift from the current concept of fixed route and timetable large buses. Ramon Casha is being generous when he says a 10 minute car journey can take 20 minutes by bus. In many instances the reality is that it is more likely to take an hour.

Modern technology gives us the possibility to create shared transport systems that are on demand and offer flexible routes. Trams and large buses go in exactly the opposite direction. Even with the so-called upcoming transport reform, we are simply trying to address tomorrow’s problems using yesterday’s solutions.

Raymond Cutajar

Jul 27th 2010, 11:44

Attn Mr Martin Seychell ,you seem to have somehow overlooked that in Malta the VRT -vehicle roadworthiness test which includes exhaust emissions testing have been in effect for almost 11, yes eleven years .
Proper emissions testing is definitely lacking in very high percentages , and NO BODY CAN DENY THAT -SMS SMOKE ALERT SCANDAL ! ?remember Mr M Seychell in this last year alone !
And the public Never heard any whimper from MEPA then !!!!
Sorry sir but it seems that for some reason you have been napping too long and if you are responsabile in any way for Air Quality Control then surely you have let the Maltese public down along with your superiors on the same level .
If you are not responsabile please accept my apologies

Paul Barrett

Jul 27th 2010, 10:54

I am more inclined to believe that the main pollution pushed out by vehicles is not from private cars but from Commercial and Public Service vehicles in heavy use and often with badly tuned/maintained engines (just see the smoke and smell the fumes). The private vehicles sector (i.e., those not used for business) are generally in use for comparatively very short periods and spend most of their time parked.
Persuading the lesser polluter (private car users) towards using the greater polluter (public transport) will do very little to reducing the pollution levels.
The way forward is to sort out the heavy polluters and at the same time sort out the traffic bottle-necks with linking by-pass roads.

Astrid Vella

Jul 27th 2010, 10:50

FAA welcomes Martin Seychell's sensible words, but that is a long-term solution. We need combine them with immediate measures to stop the toxic emissions that are making us sick NOW.

Would all who value their health and that of Malta's children, please sign the petition against air pollution at: http://www.faa.org.mt/air_pollution_petition

Thank you

Ramon Casha

Jul 27th 2010, 10:46

1. Public transport reform which concentrates on availability late into the night, and on having one trip from point to point. Why would I take two 20-minute bus rides instead of one 10-minute car ride?

2. Spot checks on vehicle emissions, from which buses and heavy vehicles are NOT excluded - even if the standards for a bus would not be the same as a car.

3. Measures to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles and bicycles.

4. Measures to discourage the use of small trucks such as SUVs for ordinary commuting. Examples include a tax based on vehicle size.

5. Measures to identify and rectify bottlenecks in the road network. Traffic jams generate far more pollution than free flowing traffic. Some spots generate a daily traffic jam, so they'd be easy to identify.

Paul Caruana

Jul 27th 2010, 10:33

As I see it, in a democratic and civil society, public officers are there to come up with reasonable solutions to solve problems, which should not include the issuing of threats like schoolboy bullies (stop using your private cars or else...)!

If MEPA is so concerned, and rightly so, about the traffic situation in Marsa, then why has the proposed addolorata road junction been put on the back burner, rather than given top priority? A proper multilevel junction here would ease considerably the traffic jams occuring at this site, with a corresponding decrease in emissions.

But the best part of the report is about the high average age of cars in Malta! Whose fault is that I wonder? When Maltese governments will stop viewing the purchase of new cars as an oppourtunity to wildly tax their brethen and allow new car prices to come down to more reasonable levels, then probably people would be inclined to change cars more often.

Mario Tabone-Vassallo

Jul 27th 2010, 10:33

Bla dubju ta' xejn it-tingis mit-trasport huwa parti kbira mit-tingis: mea culpa. F'Malta ma jaghmilx sens it-trasport privat kieku gvern wara l-iehor ma traskurax it-trasport pubbliku. Dan jinhtieg ikun tul 24 siegha biex hadd ma jkollu bzonn trasport privat. Hekk tohrog inqas valuta Maltija barra minn Malta biex jinxtraw il-karozzi u ghall-fuwil, jaf jonqos l-isbilanc. Tonqos ukoll l-ispiza ghas-sahha u l-manutenzjoni ta' hafna toroq. Il-buzillis hu li l-gvern idahhal ghexieren ta' miljuni kull sena taxxi fuq il-karozzi fix-xiri u fil-licenzji u fuq il-fjuwil. Hemm kukkanja bejn l-importaturi u l-gvern. Ma ssibx tipparkja, tinhataf il-kampanja, tingis il-hin kollu, mard u mewt mizjuda. Il-hsieb irid itul u mhux tal-mument

michael john turner

Jul 27th 2010, 10:28

....and the filth churned out of buses and trucks as well as cars..... cancerous black muck straight into our lungs. DO SOMETHING, issue orders to the police to stop vehicles killing.

Christian Sciberras

Jul 27th 2010, 10:14

Incorrect. The culprit is outdated engines and lack of vehicle maintenance.
Only a few weeks ago, in Gozo, I noticed how a particular bus left 20x more exhaust than a medium-sized card.

Franco Farrugia

Jul 27th 2010, 10:10

It's no use putting bullying-tactics on the people. In order to 'wean people off their private cars', you need to have a firm, reliable and efficient public transport service. Which we have not.
Then again, we are not even able to organise a proper Car Free Day, let alone ...

david debattista

Jul 27th 2010, 10:02

What a load of crap. The public transport is one of the worse contributive factor regarding our air
pollution . Get the Maltese Islands some electric buses and the tram then people might take you seriously. Nothing personal just the truth.

Moira Heath

Jul 27th 2010, 09:50

Forget it. To wean people off their private car you need an excellent means of public transportation. This is as far from our reality as it can possibly be, and so far, the promised reform is not giving hope to anyone but the current regime of bus drivers.