Updated 6.03pm with PN reaction below -

New vehicles are appearing on Malta's roads at a rate of 45 a day, the National Statistics Office has revealed.

The number of licensed vehicles stood at 391,914 at the end of June, a rise of 3.3 per cent from the same period last year.

Most of those were cars (77.6 per cent), while the remainder were commercial vehicles, motorcycles, quad bikes and all-terrain vehicles. Buses and minibuses amounted to less than 1 per cent.

Source: National Statistics Office

The statistics prompted calls from the Opposition PN for an "effective, efficient, timely and eco-friendly" public transport system.

From January to June this year, the stock of licensed vehicles increased at a net average rate of 45 vehicles per day.

According to figures released by the NSO last month, the stock of licensed motor vehicles increased at an average net rate of 36 per day in 2017.

Newly licensed vehicles

Newly licensed vehicles placed on the road during the period under review amounted to 7,439. Newly licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 3,670 or 49.3 per cent of the total, whereas newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 3,769 or 50.7 per cent. An average of 82 vehicles per day were newly licensed.

Vehicles under restriction

During the second quarter, 7,503 vehicles were taken off the roads due to a restriction. Out of these, a third were put for resale, a third scrapped, and a third garaged.

Vehicles that had their restriction ending during this quarter totalled 4,170. The majority were recorded as having been put for resale (60 per cent) or garaged (39.1 per cent).

Engine power type

As at the end of June, 234,822 vehicles or 59.9% of the total were petrol-powered engines. Diesel-powered vehicles reached 152,266 or 38.9% of the total. Electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for 0.8% of the entire stock, with a total of 3,280 vehicles.

PN: Adding buses not enough, service needs to be improved

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said that adding the number of buses was not enough, especially as the buses were stuck in traffic.

The bus service needed to become more efficient and punctual so that fewer people felt the need to use their private cars and thus there would be less congestion.

Shadow Minister Toni Bezzina said the number of bus users had increased only because of the large number of foreigners who had moved to Malta.

He insisted that the government needed to take bold decisions to introduce an efficient and environmentally-friendly mass transit system.

Mr Bezzina also expressed concern that there are too few environmentally-friendly cars on the road with the number of electric and hybrid vehicles currently amounting to only 3,000, or 0.8% the number of vehicles.