Local council association suggests ‘walking buses’ for schoolchildren

The local councils association has suggested that one of the ways to tackle traffic congestion is through the development of “walking buses” for young school students and adolescents.

In a statement they released in response to the government’s “White Paper on school opening hours and traffic congestion,” the association outlined a few of its suggestions to tackle the ever growing issue of traffic congestion on the Maltese islands.

The association also pointed out that it had not been consulted in the preparation of the document, and that it believed that local councils could have a very active role to dampen the national traffic congestion issue.

Among its suggestions, the association recommended that young school students and adolescents could begin a walking school bus practice, where groups of students are accompanied by two teachers on their walk to school.

The association also adds that a radical upgrading programme for existing pavements should be enacted to allow more people to use pavements safely rather than walk on the roads alongside cars.

“There should also be harsh consequences for anyone who uses bus stops inappropriately to ensure better running of the public transport system,” the association added.

Among its many suggestions, the association also adds that studies into the effectiveness of traffic lights in curbing congestions should be carried out and that action should be taken accordingly to install or remove them as a result. It added that removable traffic lights could be installed to direct traffic in cases of road maintenance among others.

Another study the association suggests is to look into whether certain one-way and two-way roads were contributing to traffic congestion.

“Although Valletta is a capital city and the centre of many administrative processes, we think some offices and public departments could be distributed throughout the island, to cut down the influx of commuters travelling to Valletta every morning,” another suggestion reads.

The association also recommended ways to tackle the issue by distributing public workers across local councils and ensuring that traffic wardens trained specifically in traffic management were deployed during rush hours.

“We also recommend more flexible working hours to try and stagger out starting times throughout different hours and not necessarily begin everyone’s working hours in the morning.”

The association further encouraged the use of technology to inform commuters whether and when certain roads were closed for maintenance.

“The government should also incentivize maritime transport and secure comfort for travellers who opt for public transport methods,” it said, adding that services should be punctual, adequately air conditioned, and perhaps even provide wi-fi and electronic charging ports for users.

The association further recommends the promotion of taxis and minibuses to create a more reasonably priced system, while urging the government to further incentivize bicycle use.

“The installation of showers at working places could help to encourage this practice,” the statement reads.

It further recommended that main roads and maintenance on roundabouts should be avoided during peak hours at all costs, and that a minimum speed limit should be established on certain roads.

“Deliveries, funeral processions and horse-drawn vehicles should also be avoided during certain times of the day.”

The association further pointed out that local councils and Transport Malta should be better coordinated to ensure they both know when certain roads need to be closed, and even to re-think waste collection times and systems.

“Another recommendation would be to install cameras to watch the roads and cut down dangerous behaviour like over-speeding, mobile phone use at the wheel and driving through red lights among others.

The association added that traffic congestion had now developed in such a way that required difficult decisions and hefty investments, but that long-term plans were necessary.

“The association believes that local councils need to be fully involved in the process to dampen the problem.”