A new park-and-ride site in Blata l-Bajda providing an extra 470 parking spaces for commuters was approved by the planning authority last week.

Recommended for approval, the site will be located in Crown Works Ditch, which is used at present as a storage area by Transport Malta and a private company. It will be adjacent to the existing one in Blata l-Bajda set up in 2006 and having 950 parking spaces.

The new site covers an area of about 15,500 square metres and is made up of fortifications, open space and buildings used for storage.

The fortifications of Crown Works and the adjacent Horn Works form part of Valletta’s defence system built in the 17th century and have the highest level of heritage protection.

Architect David Vassallo, from Transport Malta, explained that the park-and-ride project would amalgamate the use of private cars with that of public transport.

The project forms part of the public transport reform, which will come into effect on July 3, when the system will no longer revolve around the Valletta bus terminus but will have different nodes.

The ditch will be cleaned from the rubbish and the area covered in tarmac and landscaped while the indigenous trees will be kept.

The park and ride service into Valletta started in November 2006 as part of the government’s plans to cut traffic congestion in the capital. Under the controlled vehicular access (CVA) system, vehicles going into Valletta pay a fee according to their duration inside the capital.

The government had originally decided the park-and-ride scheme should be provided free of charge and the operation financed through income derived from CVA charges. But along with the public transport reform, the government will start charging for the park-and-ride service with a seven-day ticket costing €10 including transport to and from Valletta.