New statistics presented in parliament have cast serious doubt on the effectiveness of a €15 million scheme announced by Transport Minister Chris Bonett to tackle Malta’s chronic traffic congestion.
The data suggests that the initiative will have minimal impact and could become obsolete within just two months of implementation.
Responding to questions from PN MP Mark Anthony Sammut, Minister Bonett confirmed that between 2018 and 2024, Transport Malta registered over 164,000 new vehicles—many of them second-hand—translating to an average of 64 new vehicles added to Malta’s already saturated road network each day.
The core of Bonett’s proposal is a ‘cash-for-licence’ scheme, which offers vehicle owners €25,000 over five years—disbursed in €5,000 annual payments—in exchange for relinquishing their driving licence and vehicle number plates.
If the entire €15 million budget is spent within a year, the scheme could remove a maximum of only 3,000 vehicles from Malta’s roads. At that rate, sustaining the initiative for five years would cost the public €75 million.
Sources within government told The Shift that the scheme has come under internal scrutiny, with both Transport Malta and the Finance Ministry urging Bonett to revise or scrap the plan altogether.
Finance Minister Clyde Caruana is reportedly opposed to the initiative, describing it as a waste of public resources. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Robert Abela continues to support Bonett, reportedly insisting the Minister must be seen to be acting on traffic—even if the measures are largely symbolic.
“This is an ill-conceived plan that leads nowhere,” a source said. “It won’t reduce traffic, and its main beneficiaries will be individuals—mostly pensioners—who no longer drive.”
The Shift also understands that the Transport Minister is facing pressure from various sources, including the Finance Ministry and Transport Malta, to reconsider his approach.
The Finance Ministry has informed Bonett that securing further funding for the scheme will depend on a revised and more effective proposal.
According to the latest figures from the National Statistics Office (NSO), Malta had 445,711 registered vehicles by the end of last year.
While some improvements have been made to infrastructure, particularly through new arterial roads, these efforts have been offset by the relentless increase in vehicle numbers and drivers.
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The core of Bonett?s proposal is a ?cash-for-licence? scheme, which offers vehicle owners ?25,000 over five years?disbursed in ?5,000 annual payments?in exchange for relinquishing their driving licence and vehicle number plates
So you cant sell your car?
We should learn from Singapore…
‘Free‘ parking remains at the root of this problem (no such thing, obviously). If everyone had to pay to park his/her car(s), like garage owners already do, there would be fewer cars. Just look at urban areas in most other parts of the EU. You pay to park your car(s) somewhere when not in use, and you pay to park in public spaces (streets, squares…). If you cannot afford that, you shouldn’t own a car — and certainly not more than one.
Ditch the ineffective buses, streets are a disaster. Introduce trams or some light rail transport. Problem solved.
Ah yes, and reduce local greed. Otherwise you are beyond any help.
That which killed the bus would kill the tram, ie no building planning. Unless serious planning together with true law enforcement start, we are talking to entertain ourselves.
Here are my suggestions:
1. Number plates ending in ODD number allowed on the roads Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.
Those ending in EVEN number allowed on the road Tuesdays, Thursday?s, Saturdays.
On Sundays , ALL vehicles allowed on the roads.
2. Increase number of buses and routes.
3. Build bridges from:
Mellieha to Bugibba. Bugibba to St.Julians, Sliema to Valletta and Valletta to Birgu.
Cycle lanes should be allocated at these bridge.
4. Build car parks in the sea in various locations .
Perhaps we should inquire whether the newly appointed Director Generals at the Ministry were selected for their expertise or simply for their exceptional talent in flattering the Minister.
75 million taxpayer funds won’t go near the problem but sure as hell will buy us a few hundred votes.
Our roads and streets can’t take any more cars. We reached the point of saturation with the cars.
Mizura stupida u hela ta’ flus. Jekk vera ma fetahx mohhu fuqha u dawwarha, mela veru bniedem injurant u stupidu.
Seems to me that we are experts in creating problems but know nothing about how to address them properly. The real root of the problem here is that we keep putting (registering), more & more cars on the road. An average of 27 new cars everyday is madness! And how many are we scrapping? In a decade-or even less, this country will no longer be livable!
That’s what the road license is for!
Mr Sammut, great line of thought.
I have been arguing for some time now, ban non-commercial vehicles, excluding mopeds and motorcyles, between 6:30a.m. and 9:30a.m. It might sound ludicrous but buses fail mainly due to congestion. Removing cars for those 3 hours means the bulk of people would use mass transport, that with little congestion would be fast and effective. From the government I expect as you suggested in your second point, doubling the amounts of buses available. A happy side effect would be the roads being much safer for mopeds and bicycles, for people who would prefer not socialising whilst travelling. Parking issues would also slowly dissolve into nothing as, diagonally parked, much more cycles can be fit in the space taken up by a car.
Oh and btw, 2 year implementation phase with 1,500 officers recruited on a fixed term contract to issue 1,000 euro fines, increasing by 500 euros every repeat offence, to educate the people.
It will never happen but I still can hope.
The odd numberplate idea was tried in Nigeria 50 years ago. The result was drivers bought an extra car so they had an odd and an even number. Huge parking problem with all those extra vehicles
AN UNDERGROUND METRO
HAS A STUDY BEEN DONE?!
More motorbikes , & less cars
Carpool incentive
Awareness of Living close by to work place, which save lots time travel and lots of car expenses etc