Editorial: Unaffordable cost of congestion

Driving around Malta can be a formidable challenge, characterised by frayed tempers, lack of courtesy, inevitable diversions, frequent delays and, in the larger scheme of things, the imposition of increasingly unaffordable costs on the country.

In the latest country report on Malta, the European Commission says that the so-called external costs of transport amount to about €400 million per year, or 3.6 per cent of the island’s gross domestic product, estimated in terms of congestion, noise, air pollution and increased greenhouse emissions. People stuck in traffic would tend to look at the problem in terms of personal costs: heightened stress, lost time and breathing in polluted air for extended periods.

The commission’s report states the obvious when it argues: “Traffic congestion remains a key challenge, given the high reliance on private cars. The lack of soft mobility infrastructure (such as pavements and cycling lanes) discourages the use of alternative modes of transport and exacerbates congestion in Malta.”

Admittedly, public transport has improved over the last few years and is still cheap, soon to cost commuters nothing at all. Understanding the primary reasons why it...