The government and the Transport Authority are taking a fresh look at the way the people of Malta and its many visitors move from one place to another, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said this morning.

"Transport must be a contributor, not a burden, to our quality of life: the quality of the air we breathe cannot be the price for the quality of our trip to work and back."

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Association of European Vehicle and Driver Registration Authorities, Dr Gatt said Malta is a fantastically car-dependent country.

"I do believe that this is at least partly due to the fact that we have for too long assumed that a country of our size cannot viably sustain alternative means of transport. I think it is high time this matter is looked into. The public and group transport scene has continued to operate on a structure designed around a time when car ownership was at half of today's rates. It is hardly rocket science to work out that as people travel more often, for longer and between an ever-growing list of points of origin and destination, the entire transport network - private and public - must adapt with it."

He added that all must therefore work on securing a shift from transport using private means towards group transport: buses of various sizes on route or chartered basis, taxis larger and smaller, bicycles, boats and the sharing of cars.

"This does not make the car an object of derision. A greater modal shift will make car trips faster and less polluting. It will make the experience of the motorist who will still need to use the car for those trips for which this is the more efficient means of transport, a safer, faster, cheaper one."

That was why, he said, in parallel with the shift to new forms of transport, Malta also had to continue to upgrade its road infrastructure.

"My ambitions in this regard are not small. Malta's road network must catch up the aspirations of the Maltese: a European-class road network that is safe, reliable and of the highest quality. In the last few years we have made substantial progress but, excuse the mix of metaphors, the road is long. We are working on innovative solutions to get there."

Earlier Dr Gatt spoke on the way how the government had eliminated the need for people to resort to a government office to renew their licences and said that such services would be expanded.