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Karl Schembri
As with everything else, whether the Valletta pay to park scheme is a good idea depends on where you stand; and if you think it’s a bad idea, government is keen on changing your point of view.
Employees working in Valletta who commute using their own car found it impossible to park after 8am, even at the park and ride facility in Blata l-Bajda. Residents found it much easier, barring initial teething troubles for registration of their own vehicles, and those of their next of kin.
Around 400 parking spaces that have been painted blue are open for all users all day but have to be cleared for non-residents by 7pm.
Green boxes, of which there are around 100, can be used only by residents all day.
“To judge the system, you have to look at what’s happening after 8.30am,” a government spokesman said. “At that time it was inaccessible before, full of cars belonging to employees parking there for eight hours straight. Whoever went to Valletta to shop had to park illegally even with a V licence, and residents would never be able to park near their houses. So it was really an issue of musical chairs – moving the eight-hour cars out of Valletta and getting in the shorter-term parking vehicles.”
The first victim seems to be the now popular park and ride, with its 950 parking spaces being filled up in the early hours by employees working in Valletta who have now shifted their parking to Floriana and around the Valletta ring road. Since it was launched last November, the park and ride was being used by visitors to Valletta who did not have a V licence, while the capital remained full of cars.
“If we are going to remove cars from Valletta, obviously not everyone who used to come by car can keep doing that. It is ultimately a city that is very well served by public transport, helped by park and ride and some free alternative parking spaces. Of course you can still come in with your car, it is much easier in fact, but if everyone had to do it everyday we would still have the same problem and then it would be just a tax, as Labour is suggesting. This is designed to solve the congestion problem through a culture change.”
When compared to the last day of the V licence, the first office day under the new system saw a 32 per cent increase in visits to Valletta lasting less than an hour, and an increase of 34 per cent of cars that stayed for less than half an hour.
“These are people who would have needed a V licence for a 15 to 20 minute errand and who now can enter Valletta for free or up to 35c,” the spokesman said.
Vehicles parked for over eight hours, excluding residents’ cars, dropped by 60 per cent.
“It means the eight-hour cars have been removed and we have increased car turnover.”
In fact, incoming traffic between 9am and 2pm remained unaffected.
While the park and ride is promised to remain free, government is also looking at other plots of land that could be used to increase the facility’s parking spaces by up to 700 parking bays.
It is still unclear how much money will be raised through the scheme, though according to Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett, it is expected to yield some Lm1.5 million which would cover the costs and the Lm600,000 formerly raised from the V licence.
That would hardly leave any revenue but the government promises to embellish the pedestrianised areas and install new furniture irrespective of the money made from the scheme.
The success or otherwise of the new Valletta parking scheme will ultimately depend on how cleaner, greener and car-free the city will remain. That involves a radical culture change for a car-hugging nation that is used to parking for free outside the doorstep. |
