Letters to the editor – March 29, 2025

That transport policy

Over the last 10 to 20 years, we have made it increasingly difficult to walk or cycle anywhere.

Roads are often impossible to cross or have long detours or wait times to do so.

Making two-way streets in villages, one way to double parking capacity, or declaring rural back roads one way made cycling far more difficult, even to the extent of pushing riders onto main roads. A handful of largely cosmetic cycle lanes lead nowhere, or not where cyclists or would-be car driving cyclists need to go.

A cycling policy was originally due in 2016. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

In addition, we have lost five alternative service providers; five!

In short, while the policy of not punishing or disincentivising car use has succeeded in doing just that, an unintended outcome has been to punish and disincentivise the very people “doing the right thing”.

Rather than with car drivers, our buses are now overcrowded with people who used to walk because they are now free. They take the bus even for short distances.

So, in desperation, rather than reward people who still do actually walk or cycle we can only promise a cycling policy document that was originally due in 2016. And, probably, if I may add, we are expected to be ecstatically grateful for this?

Are we actually resorting to bribing drivers, most of all those who never drive their car, anyway, to surrender their driving licence? True, we have seen this work in other cities but it was those using alternatives who were getting the rewards. We have no alternatives, bar Y-cabs and ferries that are only good if you can reach them while you are riding a bicycle. That can only happen if there is a safe route to them. The ‘use alternatives’ ship has truly sailed.

We could, of course, build a metro. But, as an alternative user, tell me again why we have to bail out non-alternative (over my dead body) drivers for a metro we cannot afford, that will take 15 years to build and cost four to six times as much by then.

Clearly, we need to upend our transport policy.

Jim Wightman – St Julian’s

Bank’s standing

In the article ‘Controversial Hungarian bank eyes HSBC Malta deal’ (March 26), several claims are made about OTP Bank that do not stand up to the facts.

The OTP Group is the leading banking group in central and eastern Europe, a listed company for 30 years, with a reputation for prudence and transparency.

OTP Bank was included in the Ukrainian list of shame for reasons that have been repeatedly and effectively refuted and proven to be completely false. Our bank was not just temporarily lifted but eventually removed from this list for good before the whole list itself was terminated.

Our bank and its management strive to maintain fair, professional relations with all the governments in their respective countries of operation. At the same time, we maintain a clear and firm distance from politics and personal entanglements, and, therefore, we refuse in the strongest terms to maintain any relationship with political actors that deviates from accepted western standards.

In support of an unbiased, fact-based assessment, I am sending you the S&P Market Intelligence 2024 ranking of Europe’s 50 largest listed banks, which ranked OTP Bank as the top bank in Europe.

Bence Gáspár, head of communications, OTP Bank – Budapest, Hungary