Getting fewer cars on the road to ease the gridlock that drivers have to face is pure and simple good strategic thinking.  Finding the right way of doing this without disrupting people’s lives is much more difficult.

Following the botched introduction of free transport for school children, many were hoping that the transport authorities would find a solution to promote more efficient public transport for all those who want to use it.

The Prime Minister, rather than admitting that his government had not defined well the process of implementing his party’s electoral promise, blamed parents for leaving it late to inform their school’s administrators about their intention to use the free public transport system.

It is now clear that the desperate effort to sign on as many transport services providers to paper over the botched school transport implementation is affecting the tourism sector adversely.

The Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (FATTA) says that several key coach operators advised tourism agents that their coaches are no longer available before 9am and between 1.45 and 4pm. Understandably, this will create havoc for excursion operators for most of the year when schools are open. Organised transport to and from the airport will also be affected as most tourists prefer to use this means of transport rather than public transport.

FATTA wants the authorities to act swiftly to facilitate and incentivise the importation and operation of additional coaches from other EU states. So it is back to crisis management whenever we face the reality of the dire consequences of poor planning and incompetent implementation of projects.

Getting more coaches, even if on a temporary basis, will increase rather than decrease congestion on our roads. We may have already entered into a spiral of lowering the quality of life of most people on the pretext of short-term economic gains.

The unsustainability of promoting growth at all costs will continue to become painfully apparent as different government ministries continue to take ad hoc decisions that will give them a good press for a few days while undermining sustainable organic growth. Rather than consider mediocrity as an acceptable standard, the Prime Minister should get his ministers to guarantee that any project they undertake will be delivered without creating unnecessary hardships to people as a result of incompetent project management.

When addressing the United Nations recently, the Prime Minister delivered an “inspirational” speech in which he urged other countries to embrace the digital revolution built of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. He mentioned the word “solutions” 17 times in his speech.

Many are wondering whether the government can at least provide solutions to the problems that parents have to face with school transport and tourism operators with the organisation of excursions.

The short-term planning mindset of policymakers and their political masters is affecting ordinary people’s lives negatively. Slick PR and political eloquence will be exposed for what it is when the reality of poor long-term planning and incompetent execution of projects financed by taxpayers becomes too evident.

The transport strategy of this administration is deficient and incoherent. It is clear that strategy and tactics are defined in isolation by the different ministries without much thought of the overall effect they will have of various sectors of society.

This is a Times of Malta print editorial

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.