Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1065920
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 DECEMBER 2018 NEWS ANALYSIS grated transport solutions can transform the urban environ- ment and make the bus appeal to the masses again. The creation of a light rail or metro system has sparked the imagination of many. A Lon- don style Tube Map of Malta by Jonathan Galea, on display during the Malta Design Week 2014, was in the author's words "in no way a proposal, but rather a social commen- tary and piece of graphic art". However, a few years later the discussion about a mass transit system for the Maltese Islands has taken on a more serious tone, and has been put forward as a potential long-term solu- tion by different political and business figures on the islands, from influential entrepreneurs and architects to the former Opposition party leader. Overground and under- ground are not the only op- tions available when it comes to public transport for the Maltese islands. The harbour ferries link- ing Valletta to Sliema and the Three Cities have been re-in- troduced with success in the past years. There are plans to extend the ferry services to other localities on the eastern coast of the island: from the harbour area to the north (St Julian's, Buġibba, and all the way up to Gozo) and south- wards towards Smart City and Marsaskala. Even the sky need not be a limit. A proposal putting for- ward the idea for an urban cable car network for Malta deserves due consideration. Such a model could provide an efficient public transport service at 10-30% of the cost of a metro system, while not putting further pressure on scarce land. Cable car services have been introduced in other European cities such as Porto and Dubrovnik. Going up in the air is also the premise of the proposal for "the (real) alternative grid", a solution put forward by a local architectural firm to create a separate network of pedestri- an and cycling paths, levelling off elevation differences be- tween towns by crossing val- leys on raised flyovers, as well as through the use of existing and new tunnels. Independent, smaller ini- tiatives can also make a dif- ference. Earlier this year, the Żejtun primary school in col- laboration with the local coun- cil, organised a bike-to-school day, and the Safi local council has just been awarded funding to start operating a 'walking bus' to school, in which kids are picked up along a route and under the guidance of adults, can walk to school safe- ly. For walking and cycling to become daily accepted modes of transport again, safe, direct and attractive infrastructure is needed, as well as a legal framework that defends these most vulnerable road users. Shared mobility solutions, such as bicycle, scooter and car-sharing, as well as ride- sharing (carpooling) and ride- hailing services have also been introduced in recent years, and add further mobility options to a modern, multi-modal transport landscape. Perhaps less innovative, but nonethe- less effective, are organised forms of shared transport, such as scheduled minivans and buses for schoolchildren and workers in employment hubs. Mobility as a basic human right While a mass-transit net- work can deliver on some stra- tegic axes where demand is high, experiences from across Europe show that in many cas- es, there has been too strong a focus on expensive mass- transit projects with limited scope, serving only a sub-sec- tion of the population, while ignoring the mobility needs of those living outside of the mass-transit corridor. In addi- tion, the required large capital investments have often meant a transfer of public to private ownership, in an attempt to let 'the market' dictate the appro- priate price for an efficient ser- vice, and ameliorate the losses experienced by public trans- port services across Europe in the past decades. These devel- opments have eroded the level of service of public transport, and its initial promise to pro- vide transport for all. Mobility is a basic human need. We all need access to education, work, healthcare, goods and services. We should therefore look at designing a transport system that provides equitable, affordable and effi- cient mobility options—truly a public transport. No single silver bullet solu- tion will magically solve the transport conundrum we have on our hands. We need to look at this problem from a long- term and holistic perspective. Large scale mass-transit op- tions may have a place in our future transport system, but, while studying the feasibility of those potential models, we should focus in the short term on picking the low-hanging fruits and make use of the as- sets we already own: improve the reliability, speed and fre- quency of bus services through the creation of dedicated lanes, fast boarding platforms, and integrated payment solutions, extend the ferry network and introduce further fast ferry links; and prioritise pedestrian movement within village cores and town centres, and safe cy- cling routes between localities. While the transport land- scape on the Maltese islands is modernising and diversifying, what is needed is the full in- tegration of these modes, not only physically, but also finan- cially, so that they can become desirable alternatives and can be used in a multi-modal mix. This is the premise of the new- est buzzwords in the transport sector: Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), a subscription ap- proach to mobility which builds on seamless integration of transport networks, real- time mobility information and integrated payment options. It is important however to en- sure that Mobility-as-a-Ser- vice is designed and executed not just to provide the hyper- mobile younger middle- and upper-classes with even more mobility, but that such a mod- el actually caters for all mem- bers of society. In other words, it must offer an affordable transport service for everyone. Ultimately, for any combina- tion of transport modes to be- come a true alternative to the privately-owned car, it has to offer a real alternative in terms of costs, comfort and conveni- ence. The required modal shift to alternative modes of trans- port will not happen only by providing 'carrots', but will require 'sticks' to curb the ex- cessive freedoms and claims on public space of private cars, too. Suzanne Maas is conducting doctoral research on cycling with the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable De- velopment at the University of Malta, and is a board member of Friends of the Earth Malta This article appeared origi- nally in IslesOfTheLeft.org (left) Space occupation and emissions for different transport modes. Image by Elliot Fishman, example from Victoria, Australia.. Top: Tube Map of Malta. Artwork by Jonathan Galea.