School has started and once again many roads in Malta turn into one solid traffic jam every morning.

A lot has been said about the traffic problem in Malta but this seems to be one aspect that has not been addressed. Thousands of parents take their children to school in their own private cars rather than use the minibuses and coaches. Schools often have queues of private cars, each bearing one child, waiting their turn so that they can drop their child off right in front of the school gate.

The difference in traffic density between schooldays and non-schooldays is enormous and certainly merits some attention. Perhaps someone can investigate this phenomenon and find out why so many parents refuse to use the minibuses and coaches. By ad­dressing these reasons, more parents should start to send their children to school using coaches and buses, which should result in a drop in traffic jams and the pollution that results when thousands of cars are stuck in traffic.

One of the problems seems to be caused by minibuses trying to take on as many routes as possible before school starts. This results in students from some areas having to wait for their transport when it’s still dark and then spend well over an hour waiting at an almost-deserted school while the driver goes on more trips. In many places, schools play almost no part in organising the transport, leaving everything in the hands of the minibus owners.

If school, transport and government people got their heads together I’m sure they could come up with a way to encourage parents to make use of school buses. To do that they need to ensure that school transport is a viable option.