Parking beyond Sliema

Gone are the days of the organised system of red mini-vans accompanying pupils to school with their teachers in the front seat.

It is funny how calls for consultation are so arbitrary

We now witness double and triple parking of cars and young pupils navigating through total chaos of cars outside schools.

Is this frustrating scenario of streets which cannot handle all the cars outside a school, a situation which exists in Cathedral Street, Sliema, or is it prevalent in many heavily urbanised localities in Malta and Gozo? We all witness a huge decrease in traffic congestion when schools are shut because of the holiday period, particularly at rush hour.

The Malta Union of Teachers, who last week opted to deny pupils one hour of classes to twist the arm of the authorities, have not pronounced themselves on the wider issues of traffic congestion and parking around schools all over Malta.

They clearly wish to retain the status quo of traffic congestion and parking nightmares outside our schools.

We can’t afford to have policy making in this country that simply sees the immediate issue but ignores the wider picture.

Is the request for a suspension of the time controlled parking scheme in Sliema really a victory for Maltese residents?

Should we not be discussing solutions to an unsustainable problem of parking and traffic congestion which is affecting our quality of life?

Why doesn’t the MUT, and other interested parties, sit down at a table and seriously discuss encouraging group transport?

Most teachers start and end their working day at the same time. Most teachers do not commute during their working day; they are therefore best suited to utilise group transport.

We heard talk of consultation and studies which should be carried out in Sliema, but not in other localities.

It is funny how calls for consultation are so arbitrary. So hands up, who of you readers think that there is no parking problem in Sliema?

Isn’t the experience of another locality the best study you could have.

In one of the comments on an article on this issue, a Times of Malta reader stated that because of the parking restrictions in Valletta, each time he enters Valletta he is constrained to use park-and-ride and that when he recently went to a wedding reception in the city he had to use a mini-van.

Isn’t this the ideal way of commuting into heavily urbanised centres, using group transport while leaving your car at home, or on the periphery?

It is only once the parking restrictions were introduced in Valletta that commuters got into the habit of using the park and ride, parking on the periphery in the Floriana car parks, or using public transport.

This proves that a timed residential parking scheme is an effective tool to organise commuting to that town, as well as to encourage group transport.

In the comments section we read of human rights violations and that parking anywhere should be for all, in view of the fact that we all pay our driving license.

Time-controlled residential parking, which exists all over the world, is not a means to privilege one set of drivers against another set of drivers.

It is a very useful tool to organise traffic management, which is in everyone’s interest, and not just poor residents who happen to live close to a school entrance.

It is very easy to surrender to an MUT strike and the union is joyfully claiming success. But the reality is that such action miserably fails to address the parking and traffic congestion experienced in many localities in Malta and Gozo.

The sooner we realise this, the better it is for all our country’s residents.

Paul Radmlli is a Sliema local councillor.