17-year-olds to be offered €6,000 to defer driving licence until 21
Proposal to reduce scooter driving age and financially incentivise teens to use them
Teens who choose not to get a car driving licence until they turn 21 and ride a scooter instead could receive a €6,000 cash grant, under a plan being explored by the government.
Sources close to the Transport Ministry told Times of Malta that the measure - first revealed by Malta Today earlier on Friday - is another in a series of incentives being planned to ease traffic on roads.
If enacted, the proposal would see 17-year-olds eligible for a €1,500-per-year grant if they renounce the opportunity to sit for a car driving licence until they turn 21.
To ensure they can still be mobile, authorities would like to reduce the minimum driving age for scooters to 17, in line with a Brussels-approved plan to revise EU-wide driving rules to allow member states to lower minimum driving ages.
The plan is to allow teenagers who apply for the €1,500 grant to sit for and obtain a scooter licence.
It is the second grant-focused incentive being mulled to reduce traffic.
On Sunday, Times of Malta reported that driving licence holders who own a car and have been driving in Malta for at least seven years will be offered a €25,000 incentive to give up their licence for a five-year period.
Authorities are still ironing out details of that plan but say there will be strict penalties for anyone who applies for that scheme but then has a change of heart during the five-year period.
Bonett had hinted at some of the measures in an interview with Times of Malta in September 2024, including increasing the use of ferries and introducing a rapid bus transit system.
Back then, he said the government was mulling measures that would allow people to forfeit their driving licence for a financial incentive and disincentivise young people from learning to drive. He also said he would not be implementing any of the incentives until at least April because “we must get this right”.
The following month, Times of Malta revealed that the government was also planning on introducing a park-and-ride system to ease congestion in areas known as severe traffic hot spots.
Then in November, the transport ministry unveiled its ideas and asked the public for feedback.
The ministry is expected to unveil the final measures in the coming days.