Editorial: Tangible solutions needed

Unsurprisingly to anyone who has to commute daily by car, a recent poll carried out by Times of Malta asking about the country’s most significant concerns showed 28% of 600 respondents described traffic, parking, and public transport as Malta’s biggest national problem.

Other notable findings from the poll reveal that, on a national level, the Maltese are only slightly more concerned about asylum seekers than they are about over-construction.

Meanwhile, concern over corruption has dropped from 35% in early 2023 to 17%. While corruption remains a chronic issue, it seems people are growing increasingly desensitised to it. The reality is that while Minister Chris Bonett continues to mull over theoretical incentives to reduce drivers, our car numbers keep climbing to the tune of a staggering 50 new vehicles a day. While new roads and flyovers are needed in some areas, this is definitely not the long-term solution on a tiny, overpopulated island.

Is it any wonder that our infrastructure is heaving under the weight of it all?

Action is needed to somewhat reduce the staggering amount of cars on the streets, and to do this we must go back to basics.

Buses are free for Maltese residents, but it is plainly obvious that most, if not all, ministers haven’t been on a bus in years.

There can be no other reason to explain the constant overcrowding and the painfully long time it takes for people to travel to their destination, with buses halting every few metres to serve stops, which ought to have been phased out decades ago. It’s not just about making services cheap or free but about making them comfortable, feasible, and remotely attractive.

And this is why the government must expand ferry services, enhance pedestrian infrastructure, and promote cycling to ease traffic, reduce pollution, and improve public health.

With Malta’s compact size, many daily trips could be made on foot if pedestrian infrastructure were improved and walking made safer and more convenient, without the daily hazards of construction sites.

While traffic emerged as the top national concern, the cost of living remains the most pressing issue for individuals, with one in five citizens feeling the strain.

Rising expenses, ranging from food to housing, continue to outpace wages.

Research carried out last year shows food prices kept Malta’s inflation above the EU average, while housing costs surged by 6.9% in the last quarter of 2024 - nearly double the EU increase. This despite the fact that 82,000 dwellings are ‘vacant, seasonally used or secondary’.

In addition to this, there remains zero control over how much greedy landlords can demand in terms of rent.

The information one can glean from polls like these must not be relegated to an ignored heap on a minister’s desk, especially when recent global reports show 55% of our adult population has admitted to feeling stressed.

Perhaps if our authorities spent less time on controversial bills to limit access to magisterial inquiries and more time fixing existing issues that impact our daily quality of life and mental health, the country wouldn’t be in the state it’s in.

Tangible solutions to our very real problems need to start being presented; the rest is white noise.