University launches green travel initiative

The issue of not having enough parking spaces on campus may be one which surfaces predictably at the start of every academic year, but the University is aiming to take a more long-term, environment friendly outlook through a green travel initiative.

Entitled Travel Smart, the initiative was unveiled at the University common room on Tuesday, in collaboration with the students’ council, KSU.

During the press conference it was also announced that more direct routes from a number of towns and villages to University were being added from next Sunday.

Through the initiative, University is aiming to develop cost-effective, efficient and attractive travel solutions for students and staff, mainly by trying to curb their over-reliance on cars.

To this end, a green travel plan committee has been set up. It is chaired by Maria Attard, a senior lecturer in geography and director of the Institute for Sustainable Development, and includes academic and non-academic representatives of all stakeholders at University.

The plan consists of several short, medium and long-term objectives. After setting up the committee, the next step is a targeted information campaign to promote the use of public transport. This will begin during Freshers’ Week next week.

Medium and long-term objectives include investigating the potential of a dedicated car pooling service for the University, enhancing the parking scheme on campus and improving pedestrian access.

Dr Attard said green travel plans had been implemented successfully in several other countries since California started the trend in the 1970s.

She added that the benefits of such an initiative were wide-ranging, including health, financial and social benefits.

The objectives are based on research carried out by the University in November last year to measure traffic in and out of campus and parking areas during peak time. The survey highlighted the problems encountered by staff and students during their journey to University, with congestion and parking unsurprisingly being the two main concerns.

Despite these problems, the survey found that only 24 per cent of staff and students would be willing to car-share.

The University is currently collecting information about travel patterns. More information can be found on www.mepa.edu.mt/isd/greentravel.