Updated 3.45pm with company's statement

A car-sharing scheme due to be launched in a few days' time will take 20 precious parking spaces in Sliema, the locality's local council has complained.

Announced by the government last year, the Car2Go scheme is to be operated by an Israeli company using electric cars. 

Sliema council said that while it appreciated the positive attributes of car sharing, it was protesting over the way it was being implemented, without proper consultation.

"Had Transport Malta or this private entity effectively engaged with the local council, the council would have been perfectly placed to give advice on how the car sharing spaces may be allocated with the least possible detrimental effects on residents’ parking spaces," it said. 

"Unfortunately, this endemic lack of consultation, will further the problem already experienced of lack of parking spaces in Sliema, following the amassing of parking spaces with tables and chairs and the discrimination being posed on Sliema by the government which is not allowing the council to implement a residential parking scheme."

Meeting with mayor was held in April, company says

However, in a reply, Car Sharing Services Malta CEO Liran Golan said he had a meeting with Sliema mayor Anthony Chircop on April 26 during which he explained how the island’s first national car sharing scheme, using environmentally friendly vehicles, would be operating.

The mayor was also provided with a presentation of how the service would work with coordinates of the 20 designated parking spaces where the charging pillars for the electric cars would be installed.

“No objection to this initiative was ever raised by the local council, until now,” a spokesperson for the company said.

The company, a subsidiary of Car2Go Israel, won the concession contract to run the service following an international public call by the Transport Authority.

Transport Malta has, over the past two years, informed councils across Malta and Gozo that this scheme was in the pipeline and that their collaboration was required to ensure it was a success. It noted that while it understood that some parking spaces might be lost, the initiative would help reduce traffic and alleviate the parking shortage in the longer term.

Car Sharing Services Malta appealed for everyone’s cooperation and said it was willing to listen to councils’ concerns.

Operating under the brand name GoTo Malta, the service is being rolled out in two weeks. A total of 225 charging pillars will be set up across Malta and Gozo by the end of next year to support a fleet of 150 electric cars.

This €8 million initiative, run in collaboration with Transport Malta, forms part of the government’s vision to introduce innovative transportation modes, reduce dependency on private cars and contribute towards Malta’s target to have 5,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2020.