As from next year, commuters will be able to book a vehicle through a mobile phone app without worrying about whether they will find a parking space at their destination.
Known as car sharing, this innovative measure is one of a number of short-term initiatives being taken by the government to address traffic congestion and improve air quality. In fact, some of the cars in this scheme will be electric.
Transport Minister Joe Mizzi yesterday announced that the project was expected to be up and running by the third quarter of next year. A number of parking spaces in strategic locations would be reserved for the scheme, encouraging commuters to ditch their own car in favour of this alternative.
He said the aim was to boost vehicle utilisation rates – on average private cars are idle for 95 per cent of their lifetime.
Mr Mizzi unveiled the plan during a brief address in a conference focusing on electrically powered means of transport, also known as electro-mobility. Details of the scheme are still sketchy and will only be finalised following public consultation on a policy document. Subsequently the government will be issuing a call for expression of interest, probably at the start of next year.
In his address, Mr Mizzi said this project was part of a package of short-term measures which included a number of other initiatives announced in the Budget.
These include improved ferry access to inner harbour areas, 43 charging stations for electric bicycles and more charging points for electric cars. A separate carpooling policy is also in the works. Traffic congestion, he said, needed to be tackled with a mix of measures and policies and not just sporadic initiatives. Improvement could only be expected if commuters made more use of the bus service and alternative modes of transport.
In a brief presentation, the senior environment protection officer at Mepa, Mark Scerri, gave a brief overview of the level of toxic emissions on the island.
He recalled that in 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer warned that air quality was the chief cause of environmentally related cancers.
“However, it seems that people are much more concerned about their bacon than the air quality,” Mr Scerri quipped. He said that air pollution varied greatly by location, with inner harbour areas like Msida the worst hit due to their high volume of traffic.
Mr Scerri cautioned that emission levels in recent years had been too close to the limits or slightly exceeding them.
It also transpired that school-related traffic was indeed having an effect on peak morning emission levels, as these eased during the summer months.