The traditional and social media frequently carry negative comments and complaints about the state of transport in Malta. Especially at peak hours a trip which should take 10 to 15 minutes can take an hour-and-a-half to two hours. Concurrently one reads and hears complaints about the lack of parking spaces relative to drivers seeking them.

The clamour is for something to be done. Transport Malta was set up with a view, among other things, to try to ease the situation. I am not aware that it has produced any holistic plan to do so. One is very dearly needed. It will have to tackle the current situation as well as to take account of what it will be like 10 to 15 years or so down the line.

It will be a mammoth task, even to think in the short term at first. The source of the problem is easy to understand. Relative to Malta’s size and road network, there are simply too many vehicles. Figures just issued by the National Office of Statistics (NSO) tell the story succinctly.

At the end of September the stock of licensed vehicles stood at 321,425. Of these, 79.3 per cent were passenger cars, and 14.4 per cent were commercial vehicles. Another 5.2 per cent were motor cycles, whereas less than one per cent were buses and minibuses.

Assuming that commercial vehicles are bought strictly according to requirements that means, roughly, that there is a licensed car for every person aged 18 years and over. This is borne out by behavioural observation. Many families have at least two cars per household. As soon as children approach their 18th birthday they clamour for a car of their own.

The trend is set to continue. The NSO release referred to above says that the number of licences issued in the nine months up to September totalled 4,334. The majority of new licences – 3,437 or 79.3 per cent of the total – were issued for passenger cars. Newly-licensed new motor vehicles amounted to 1,923, or 44.4 per cent of the total. Licences issued in regard of used motor vehicles totalled 2,411. The large number of used vehicles freshly licensed confirms the observable trend of recourse to foreign markets, particularly the UK, for used vehicles, a practice which has become the bane of the motor industry.

And so it goes on. The heavy traffic on our roads is set to continue to increase. That is what the NSO figures say, supported by the number of driving instructors to be seen all over Malta, producing tomorrow’s young drivers.

Relative to Malta’s size and road network, there are simply too many vehicles

A traffic plan cannot affect these trends. If anything can, it would have to be fiscal measures. For instance, raise import levies on cars exorbitantly to put them – even the imported used ones – beyond the pockets of most potential buyers, and supplement that with stiffer licence fees. That is the blunt reply of the economist. It ignores the social injustice of leaving the field open only to the rich.

Moreover, it cannot be assumed that it will work. The prices of petrol and diesel have risen dramatically in recent years. That does not seem to have deterred drivers from using their cars intensively, much less newcomers from buying vehicles of their own.

The second suggestion an economist might make is, EU rules permitting, to subject car imports to a quota, perhaps to be allocated by some form of lottery. That too will be inequit-able, aside from the probability that no political party will want to go downthat route.

Nevertheless, some political party has to come up with fresh proposals unless driving in Malta is to become almost impossible.

Creating alternative uses is another route. The public transport system is the first feature to come to light. Arriva was intended to increase the use of public transport, but so far it has been more of a bad joke than anything else.

Thinking longer-term, I cannot see how future governments can continue to ignore the need to build an efficient metro system. Current budgetary pressures make that a pipe dream in the short and medium terms. The longer term will shout out that such a step – going underground – is unavoidable.

But we live in the here-and-now. And that demands that Transport Malta takes more visible action to draw up a traffic management system that is not as susceptible to breakdowns as whatever is in force now. The critical trouble spots of congestion are well known. They have to be addressed more forcefully.

It is a fact of nature that late autumn and winter will bring along the rain, and the way it tends to fall in Malta – in relative short, heavy downpours – is designed to create chaos. Again, the areas where that happens are well known and can be included in a transport plan.

The onus to ease the traffic problem is not only on Transport Malta. It is a sign of the lack of social responsibility we practise, even to the detriment of our own selves, that car sharing is not resorted to. Pedestrians too need to be better educated about the use of roads and streets.

There is no easy solution. But harder thinking is required if this issue is not to overcome us in various aspects both in the here-and-now as well as in the not-too-distant future.