Malta has close to 5,000 Y-plate vehicles

There are close to 5,000 Y-plate vehicles shared between 3,068 operators, information tabled in parliament shows. Despite the significant number of operators, the figures provided show that 945 people who are in possession of an operator’s license own no vehicles.

The data presented in parliament is the result of a parliamentary question from PN MP Jerome Caruana Cilia to transport minister Aaron Farrugia. Y-plate vehicles and the ride-hailing industry as a whole have been subject to controversies. 

MaltaToday had previously reported on years of lax enforcement within the industry, while Transport Malta had announced changes in the industry’s regulations in October.

According to the figures tabled in parliament, each operator has an average of two vehicles, however there are numerous exceptions. One operator in particular is registered as owning as many as 269 Y-plate vehicles, while two other operators own 150 and 147 vehicles each.

These particular operators seem to contradict the general consensus within the cab-hailing industry, as the Light Passenger Operators Association (LPOA) had spoken about a large number of operators being squeezed out of business. This phenomenon, LPOA had explained, mostly stemmed from a heavily saturated market which made the industry unsustainable.

Meanwhile, another parliamentary question shows that there are 13,901 persons in possession of a driver's tag needed to drive Y-plate vehicles. 

A breakdown of these figures shows that since 2017, 2018 was the year where the highest number of tags were issued by Transport Malta, with 4,425 tags issued. So far in 2023, 3,079 tags have been issued, as 3,270 tags were given in 2022.