In a news conference held on a pedestrian bridge over December 13 Street, Marsa, speakers for ADPD – The Green Party insisted that the transport measures proposed today are not adequate for the present situation and there is the need for more radical measures to address the problem. Rather than subsidising petrol and diesel, free local and regional transport should be considered to significantly reduce the number of cars on roads.
ADPD – The Green Party Deputy Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that the transport problem has been in the making for a while. “The lack of political to address this problem has led to what we are experiencing today. It is too late to implement small measures for gradual change. It has now come to a point that radical changes are necessary.
There is an urgent need for prioritizing people and their needs rather than car usage when it comes to land planning. Measures must be taken to make it easier for people to meet their daily needs in their own locality rather than having to drive elsewhere. The transport masterplan commissioned by the government has shown that half of all trips made by private car were for short distances that took less than fifteen minutes. This is a major weakness that needs to be addressed as small, independent businesses are not in a position to compete with supermarkets and other large businesses to be found on the outskirts of major towns
It must be mentioned that this is not a problem unique to Malta. In Paris and other major cities around the world initiatives have been introduced to encourage residents to have their needs met within the communities they live in, not more than a fifteen-minute walk or bike ride away. Our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that working from home can also help to alleviate the traffic problem.
Cacopardo emphasised that it is indeed a pity for the measures proposed by the Transport Masterplan to be ignored all these years. Now the Minister of Transport Minister is pushing proposals which will have a very minimal impact on our roads because the government is not addressing the root cause of the problem. The congestion we currently witness on our roads is the result of the long-term lack of action on transport.
The government must develop positive measures regarding free public transport and extend that to both local and regional public transport. It would be sensible to work on well-organised local and regional transport to reduce traffic on the road rather than subsidise petrol and diesel. As pointed out by the Masterplan published ten years ago, such a measure would address half of the short journeys we make by private car,” concluded Cacopardo.
