It took the Nationalist Party eight months to draw up ‘short-term’ solutions for congestion, but the proposals unveiled last week stop short of reflecting the urgency that prompted the document. Kurt Sansone leafs through the report.
What do you do when roads are congested? One way to go about finding a solution is to study the problem and come up with a strategy to tackle traffic.
This may provide a long-term solution but it is definitely not a short-term measure to alleviate the problem.
And yet, the proposal is the first in a list of 35 actions proposed by the Nationalist Party in its consultation document called ‘Reducing Traffic Congestion – Short term measures’. The document, which is 36 pages long, seven of which are left blank for people to jot down their notes, was presented by shadow transport minister Marthese Portelli at the PN’s general conference on Friday.
She was tasked last year by PN leader Simon Busuttil to draw up proposals to address traffic jams as motorists fumed over gridlock caused by the complete closure of the Coast Road.
The bulk of the document is made up of statistical information and draws upon the findings of various studies on the sector undertaken over the years. In many ways the background information re-states what is already known: the Maltese are in love with their cars and the roads are congested.
In his introduction to the document, PN leader Simon Busuttil argues the explosion of private transport between 1987 and 2013 is “an excellent indication” of the economy’s development over the past decades.
He pins this down to the achievements of Nationalist governments but acknowledges this also had its flip side in terms of worsening traffic congestion.
Inefficiency in transport, he says, is a consequence of the interaction “between exploding numbers of vehicles on the road with dated infrastructure and poor administrative oversight”.
Dr Busuttil says that unless there is “drastic improvement”, the current state of traffic could “directly threaten” Malta’s economic prospects.
But this doomsday scenario calling for urgency does not seem to be reflected in the rest of the document, which includes proposals to have information campaigns, a comprehensive study to “properly establish the optimal size and design of roundabouts” and better use of electronic information systems to regulate traffic flow.
The document speaks of incentives to encourage people to ditch their private car by voluntarily agreeing to a self-imposed curfew. It also proposes incentives to business so that commercial vehicles are not used on the road during peak hours. However, these are voluntary measures and like the rest of the document are not quantified in terms of how much they could cost.
The single most tangible proposal suggesting free transport for all primary and secondary school students irrespective of whether they attend State, Church or independent schools, is also not quantified.
The list includes a proposal for the government to introduce dedicated transport for its employees from strategic locations that would be identified through a needs assessment study.
And yet again, there is no attempt to quantify this additional financial burden on government expenditure; the public sector employs almost 45,000 people.
The document skirts around the issue of fuel prices. The PN has been at the forefront of criticism of government’s strategy to maintain fuel price stability by opting for gradual decreases rather than fully reflecting the much bigger drop in international oil prices.
Environmentalists contend that lower fuel prices, as the PN has lobbied for, would do little to discourage private car use but the document is bereft of any unpopular measures, such as the introduction of parking restrictions that would make private car use a more expensive venture.
Dr Portelli argues in the concluding remarks that the solutions were put together after “initial dialogue” and feedback received by the party.
“[The proposals] are by no means exhaustive or prescriptive, but they serve as a good basis for further discussion and feedback,” she said.
How far this document will go to shape the ‘drastic improvement’ demanded by Dr Busuttil still has to be seen but the PN leader does make an emphatic pledge in the introduction: “I give my pledge as leader of the PN that, once in government, the PN will launch a strategy to bring Malta’s traffic system into the 21st century.”
With government drawing up its own transport strategy, albeit at a very slow pace, it is likely that even Dr Busuttil’s pledge will have to be re-worded by election time.
Route to clearer roads: some suggestions from the report
• Incentives for businesses that organise car-pooling initiatives or voluntarily reduce commercial heavy vehicles on the road at peak times.
• Create a body with the clout and authority to manage, co-ordinate and enforce the planning and coordination of all road works holistically.
• Shift waste collection services to a time when traffic is relatively quiet in the locality.
• Carry out a study to establish the optimal size and design of roundabouts, centre strips, road markings and other obstacles.
• Introduce schemes to increase take-up of motorbikes and bicycle usage.
• Upgrade bicycle and pedestrian lanes and introduce new bike lanes where possible.
• Government offers dedicated transport to its employees from strategic points to place of work.
• Voluntary opt-in scheme whereby owners may choose to use their car only on selected days and particular times against a reduction in licence fee or road tax.
• Publicly funded school transport for all primary and secondary school children, including independent and Church schools.
• Dedicated transport to and from destinations that receive heavy volumes of commuters such as the university, MCAST, hospitals, popular markets, industrial estates and village feasts.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com