‘Time for the stick’ to tackle traffic problem, economist warns

Economist Marie Briguglio has urged the government to impose taxes on private car use so as to encourage people to shift to alternative modes of transport.

“Everybody agrees with the carrot but not everybody agrees with the stick, and yet if car use isn’t taxed, we’ll be looking at a very long-term prospect of traffic improvement.”

She was speaking at a conference on traffic sustainability organised by the German-Maltese Business Council, ahead of Transport Malta’s upcoming masterplan on traffic management.

“There is no cost to driving, save for fuel consumption, and drivers have no signal of the scarcity of the resource – land – that they are using up. From an economic point of view, there’s no pinch to tell people to drive less.”

She urged the government to tax fuel and to regulate the collection of parking fees – by clamping down on unlicensed parkers and by introducing a parking token system. Such a system would grant each household one free token per day, which they will be able to trade for a parking space in a carpark.

Briguglio added that the government should “nudge” people towards alternative means of transport, such as by handing out free bicycles to people who turn 18.

While she admitted that such proposals are likely to prove politically unpopular, she warned that a future alternative could involve shutting down certain zones to all traffic.

“Command and control measures are the most expensive and least flexible option, and yet will become necessary eventually when we end up with our backs to the wall.”

She urged businesspeople present at the conference to “step in where government has failed” and introduce their own traffic reduction measures – such as by introducing flexible office hours, providing group transport, holding Skype conferences, and installing showers and bike-bays at offices.

Sociology professor Mario Vassallo blamed the rise in traffic on bad planning – such as a shortage of cycle lane, frequently interrupted bus lanes, confusing speed limits, lengthy traffic debiations, and poor roundabout planning.

He also argued that the traffic rise is related to the decline in importance of local communities and increased female driving activity.

“People are no longer confined to one community but live, work, go to school, and socialise in different localities,” he said. “Moreover, driving has become a rite of passage and youth feel the need to exercise their right to drive and own a car as soon as they turn 18.”

How Malta's traffic situation has changed over the years

Transport Malta is set to present a traffic ‘masterplan’ for the next ten years for public consultation, the first such plan in 26 years. Ahead of its launch, its chief officer David Sutton –along with Mario Vassallo - presented sobering figures on the current state of Malta’s roads.

• Back in 1990, car growth was predicted to grow at a rate of between 1.2-3.5% a year. In reality, it grew by over 6% per year before slowing down to around 2.5% in recent years. Around 42 new cars are registered every day, while only seven are deregistered and scrapped.
• Around 117,000 trips are taken by car every day during peak morning hours, a massive increase from 77,000 trips in 1990. 83% of all road traffic in the morning is by private car. The average travel time during morning peak hours has increased from nine minutes in 1990 to 19 minutes last year.
• Only 11% of trips were taken by bus in 2010, significantly down from 24% in 1990. The trend reversed following the privatisation of the bus service in 2011 and bus ridership numbers are now higher than they were in 1990. However, Transport Malta is unclear whether these figures indicate that more people are shifting from car to bus, or whether they are simply the result of growing tourist figures.
• Only 16.5% of people use buses to go to work, and over a third of people never use public transport. Nearly half of regular bus users are under 18 or over 61 years old. 60% of regular bus users are female, which Vassallo said reflected the fact that women are still paid less than men.  
• Only 2.77% of drivers pay to park at their destination, and the average parking payment is under €2 a day. 
• 93% of the public claim that they never cycle.
• The total paved road distance increased from 1500km in 1990 to 2400km in 2015, while the number of tunnels over 50 metres increased from three to five, while the number of bridges over 50 metres increased from four to six. However, only 26.9km of strategic arterial roads have been installed and widened since 1990. Sutton explained that the removal of traffic bottlenecks in rural areas risks harming the adjacent green areas, while the removal of bottlenecks in urban areas usually requires the expropriation of private residences and shops.