Transport Malta is evaluating the impact of horses and heavy vehicles on rush-hour traffic, Transport Malta official Audrey Testaferrata de Noto said on TimesTalk this evening.

She was questioned on what measures were being considered to reduce traffic jams and whether heavy vehicles and horses could be taken off the roads in peak times.

Ms Testaferrata de Noto said a number of immediate measures to tackle traffic bottlenecks would be announced in the near future. Some measures, she said, had already been taken, such as the alternative route through Dock Seven which had successfully reduced traffic on Aldo Moro Road in Marsa.

The authority, she said, was also considering incentives to encourage car pooling. It was also working on an Intelligent Traffic Management System which would include CCTV monitoring of major roads and modern signage to warn drivers of potential problems and how to avoid them. 

Transport Minister Joe Mizzi, interviewed on the programme, said an efficient bus service was the government's top priority in order to ease the country's transport problems.

He said the country had two main transport issues - an excessive number of cars and problems in the infrastructure. Having a bus service which the people could have confidence in was the best way to encourage people to prefer the buses over their cars, he said.

The government would then embark on a medium and long-term programme to improve the roads infrastructure, particularly by improving traffic flow in junctions such as near the Addolorata cemetery.

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