Chamber of Commerce unimpressed with school transport traffic proposals

The Malta Chamber of Commerce has claimed a 14-page document proposing solutions to traffic congestion on the island contains “knee-jerk recommendations” with no guarantee of success.

The Chamber as referring to a White Paper intended at finding ways through which school logistics can reduce traffic congestion.

The government is considering subsidising public transport for secondary school students, as a means of helping them attain independent life skills and reduce traffic on the roads.

If the government decides to go down that route, it can only do so from the 2018/19 scholastic year, as it is bound by five contracts with transport service providers provided by the previous government in 2011.The contracts, which have no termination clauses, cost the state €7.87 million in the 2014/15 scholastic year and the cost is estimated to increase.

“It is unacceptable that such a serious and increasingly acute problem that is traffic congestion is being met with a string of knee-jerk recommendations in the hope that these turn out to be effective,” the Chamber said in a statement.

In the 14-page white paper titled ‘School Opening Hours and Traffic Congestion’ only one sentence makes reference to delivery vans and vaguely suggests that “services delivered by heavy vehicles should not coincide with the heavy morning traffic time. (Recommendation 16).”

“The Chamber feels that the lifeline of Malta’s business community deserves more than one line in a 14-page document. The problem of traffic congestion will not be solved by passing the parcel from one sector to the other. Malta deserves a holistic plan for transportation which includes an efficient public transport system, a European level road network and better observance of traffic laws by all involved, in order for traffic to flow more smoothly.”

Around 75.8% of Malta’s student population uses school transport, a rate that the White Paper proposes to increase to 95% through measures, such as by increasing the existing financial incentives for school transport to state schools and by financially subsidising school transport for church and independent schools.