Valletta residents have complained of “nightmare” traffic chaos caused every week by cruise passenger tourist buses blocking the roads. 

Roads such as Quarry Wharf, Xatt Lascaris and St Paul’s Street, are frequently choked up with traffic when large cruise ships port at the harbour. 

“It’s a nightmare for us residents,” one resident said.

The resident sent a video to Times of Malta showing standstill traffic at Triq Il-Lvant.

He said the traffic congestion made it impossible for residents to leave Valletta and also impacted school transport. Some school bus drivers ended up dropping off students at the Floriana MCP car park to avoid the hassle.

The resident explained that the congestion resulted from a combination of factors.

“You have the huge cruise liners, coupled with motorists exiting Valletta, tourist buses filling the waterfront area, fast ferry passengers crossing the road and the Ta’ Liese tunnel on the seafront being too narrow for traffic.” 

“It all comes together and creates this massive bottleneck.”

The situation is especially serious on Wednesdays when two large cruise liners enter the port. 

“It gets worse every year, and now it’s at its absolute worst.”

Google Maps traffic data shows gridlock on the capital city's ring road at 5pm on Wednesday.

Last year, over 900,000 cruise passengers visited Malta, arriving at Grand Harbour, marking a 65 per cent increase from 2022, and that surge has been felt by the residents not only due to the rise in traffic.

A recent study showed that air pollution over the Grand Harbour had reached shocking levels, especially during the time ships are transiting the harbour. A Shore-to-Ship electrical system was inaugurated in July, allowing cruise liners to plug into the electricity grid instead of keeping their engines going, but not all ships have been using it.   

Valletta mayor Olaf McKay acknowledged the traffic issues and said the council has been reporting the matter to relevant authorities.

“We have contacted Transport Malta as they are responsible for traffic management, and we also reach out to our Valletta Management Plan stewards to assist as necessary,” McKay said.

He said the issue happens every “now and then”, and the heavy traffic is caused by the cruise liner activity and tourist buses in the area. 

Questions were sent to Transport Malta.