Parking provision needed for cyclists

Of course Frank Galea is right: Parking at Mater Dei Hospital is indeed a nightmare (August 6). My solution is to use a bicycle to visit this hospital to avoid the parking problem. But even cyclists have a problem. On arriving by bicycle to visit a sick relative at our spanking new modern hospital, I was unceremoniously chased away by security guards. Eventually, after several unpleasant experiences it transpired that there are two “bicycle parks”. That’s fine, one might think. But it isn’t.

Unfortunately cyclists are expected to leave their bicycle a good distance away from the main entrance. Apart from making cycling to Mater Dei that bit less attractive, bicycle users are anyway reluctant to leave their bicycle unattended in a deserted area for fear of the bicycle being stolen, vandalised or finding tyres deflated. So, if the bicycle cannot be left somewhere more secure it is less likely to be used.

There is, however, another strong argument for installing a bicycle parking area next to the hospital main entrance. Would-be cyclists who live within easy cycling distance are more likely to be tempted to cycle in after seeing bicycles parked securely beside the entrance where there are wardens to keep an eye on them. Precisely this suggestion is made in para 173 of the think tank report Towards A Low Carbon ­Society – the Nation’s Health, Energy Security and Fossil Fuels, (www.tppi.org.mt/cms/index.php/reports). The possibility of such a visible, strategically placed bicycle parking facility was discussed with the head of security at Mater Dei Hospital but the idea was turned down. So a good way to entice people to come by bicycle is lost.

What people seem unable to grasp is this: so long as alternative mobility is not encouraged, the parking situation will get inexorably worse. It is commonplace in sophisticated countries to see many parked bicycles outside railway stations, public buildings and work places. Major cities are now investing heavily to encourage people to commute by bicycle.

In backward Malta it is quite the opposite. There is such a negative attitude to the bicycle that it is regarded as something shameful, best kept out of sight and out of the way. It is also not tolerated by the motoring public. Provision for cyclists is invariably omitted from any forward planning.

A typical example is The Point at Tigné. Anybody who tries to go shopping there by bicycle is turned away and told to leave the bicycle a long distance away from the shopping area. By contrast, in other European countries it is taken for granted that shoppers cycle in to such pedestrianised places. No planning authority in civilised countries would ever allow such a ridiculous ban on bicycles in such a large complex, but in Malta anybody on a bicycle is considered a danger and a nuisance by security staff. To cap it all, a huge amount of money is being spent on widening the road at Qui-si-Sana to ease motor traffic to Tigné. But it has no cycle track so that children might cycle safely to the new recreation area – well, children don’t count do they?

So the vicious circle goes on: more underground car parks, more roads, more traffic, more pollution, more cars, more parking problems, more obesity and more ill-health from lack of exercise. How long will it take Malta to snap out of the old-fashioned mindset that one can only travel from A to B in a private car?