Retain the bus lanes

I, too, am one of the thousands of drivers who have to endure traffic congestion every morning on the way to work, passing through Marsa with its new bus lanes.

But I believe that the authorities should stick to their decision of coming up with the concept of a bus lane, which had been touted for years and has finally seen the light of day.

In reality, emotions apart, traffic congestion in Marsa is only marginally worse than it was before the introduction of the bus lane. For as long as I can remember, the trip from Marsascala to Pietà, which is my normal route every morning, always takes between 30 and 40 minutes at peak time. And it has remained so.

Somehow everyone seems to be forgetting that buses, in themselves, slow down traffic because of their slower average speed. So, confining them to a bus lane, even for a short stretch, would leave other lanes totally free, improving traffic speed.

Congestion on our roads is not caused by bus lanes but by the fact that most of us rely exclusively on personal motor transport (i.e. our own car) to get around. The authorities have only one option to solve traffic congestion, and that is to get us, caraholics, to use the buses.

We will do so only if we realise that it is much more convenient and far less time-consuming to hop onto a bus which can speed past other traffic along bus lanes and without having any parking problems when we arrive at our destination.

The establishment of bus lanes is a first step in this direction.

Please, keep them.