The Valletta controlled vehicular access (CVA) system is not working, according to Transport Minister Austin Gatt, because it is too cheap.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the Valletta Alive Foundation, Dr Gatt said: “When we had Valletta licences there were 25,000 registered vehicles (permitted to enter the city). Now with the CVA we have registered at least 50,000 different cars visiting Valletta in a year, and at one point it went up to 80,000. This means the CVA isn’t working properly – I think it’s too cheap.”
Dr Gatt also said the government was losing €700,000 a year on running the CVA. “We’re subsidising it with your taxes,” he said.
The minister insisted more stringent measures should be introduced to get people into Valletta with alternative means of transport.
“If you park in the city centre abroad you have to pay much, much more,” Dr Gatt said.
He shot down claims that people could not be weaned off car usage, and said business owners were somewhat misguided when they thought that lack of car access to the city was hindering business.
“Whatever a lot of people think, including those in business, people come to Valletta mostly by bus. We confirmed that 67 per cent of people who visit Valletta do so by bus,” he said.
He added that 55 per cent of those who entered the city by car did so for work purposes, meaning they occupied a parking space for eight hours.
The park and ride system was also deemed a failure by Dr Gatt, since it was costing the taxpayer €650,000.
“We have to have a competitive park and ride system,” he said, just minutes before another press conference where he announced that in the transport reform it would cost €10 a week to use the park and ride services in Floriana.
From next year the market for electric transport systems around the city would be liberalised and, along with the panoramic lift under the Barrakka Gardens, would provide better transport to and around the capital city, Dr Gatt said.
However, speaking at the same seminar, planning architect John Ebejer said that while pedes-trianisation was a good thing, it was a mistake to discourage parking provisions in historic town centres and force people to use public transport.
“I had the opportunity to visit a number of historic towns in the UK and Ireland in recent years and in all cases there was good parking provision close to the historic centre. The approach should be that of offering choice between public and private transport together with an appropriate pricing mechanism for parking. The closer you park to the centre, the more you pay,” the architect said.