PN’s trackless tram in a jam: Bezzina contradicts Callus on reducing car lanes

Nationalist Party representatives are finding it difficult to explain how a proposed trackless tram will not lead to a reduction in existing traffic lanes.

Party spokesperson Toni Bezzina today said no existing traffic lanes will be lost despite the trackless tram requiring a dedicated lane.

He insisted the existing road space will be “better administered” to create a dedicated lane on which the trackless tram will run.

However, this contradicts what PN candidate Ryan Callus said earlier in the week that the tram will take up one of the existing lanes so that roads will not have to be widened.

Callus was clear in his replies to journalists during a Broadcasting Authority press conference when pressed about the trackless tram: “The tram will take up one of the lanes. We will not take up additional land to widen roads but people will understand the importance of taking the tram rather than using their car.”

When pressed about the proposal during a Chamber of Commerce debate yesterday, Callus spoke of “rationalising” existing road space to create a dedicated lane.

The retort from Chamber CEO Marthese Portelli was that if dedicated lanes on existing road infrastructure were to be created than these could easily be reserved for buses without the need to spend money on a trackless tram.

However, neither of the two PN candidates have explained how existing road space will be ‘better administered’ or ‘rationalised’ without having to lose one of the existing lanes to the tram.

With the PN insisting that no further land take-up will be needed and no existing lanes will be lost, the only option is to narrow the lanes and squeeze a third one in. However, the PN has not addressed potential road safety issues this could create.

The PN is proposing a trackless tram as the only mass transit option. It is pledging to have the system up and running in five years at half the cost of the metro and with a wider reach. The tram will use existing road infrastructure and will run on arterial and distributor roads.