Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1476201
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 AUGUST 2022 8 INTERVIEW Where the streets have no cars… In an article last week, you contested Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia's argument that bicycles had to 'give way', so to speak, to cars. Meanwhile, there is a lot of independent scientific research that sup- ports your main arguments: es- pecially, that our over-reliance on cars is posing serious threat to our health, and environment. Why, then, do you think the government is so determined to disregard all that data, in pur- suit of what you describe as a 'car-oriented infrastructure'? Well, I think it's very simple, really. You do understand, how- ever, that I am not Maltese; I'm from the Netherlands, original- ly… even though, in a few weeks' time, I will have been here for 10 years. So I feel that I've lived in this country long enough, to learn to understand it at least a little. What you see very strongly here – which is nothing new to you, of course – is the way the political system works. It is very focused on gaining immediate political mileage; on achieving short-term results, based on the tangible effects of government's policies. So what the previous Transport Minister has done – and what the current Transport Minister is apparently continuing to do – is just give the people the very simple things they think they want: more space for cars; more space for parking… even though, as you say, all the scientific evi- dence, as well as common sense, shows us that we cannot contin- ue like this. This is really not a debatable point. Building more roads on- ly leads to more traffic; and this has been observed everywhere in the world, including – or should I say, especially – in Malta. So it is not a rational policy decision, that the government is taking. It is a political choice, to try to give their voters what they [the government] think they want… even if I, personally, believe that it's not what they really want, at all. Are you sure about that, though? It is also a fact the for- mer Transport Minister – un- popular though he may have been, among some people – enjoyed some the highest pop- ularity ratings ever. Wouldn't you say, then, that most peo- ple really DO want on all those things the government is pro- viding? 'More space for cars, and more space for parking'? Perhaps. But then, if you ask those same people whether they want a healthier environment: for themselves, and for their children, for their elderly par- ents… I think they will say 'yes'. Would they like to be able to go for a walk, without tripping up on a broken pavement? Or hav- ing to wait two minutes, in the burning sun, just to be able to cross the road? Or to enjoy in a walk in their own neighbour- hood… rather than having to get into their car, and drive to Ta' Qali, or to a promenade some- where else? I think most people would say 'yes' to all of that. They would like that: after all, they enjoy it, when they travel abroad. But what really saddens me the most, is that on some level… not everyone, of course; but some people seem to think that 'we cannot have that, here'. You see this also in the Minis- ter's statement: he said that, 'Oh! because the infrastructure is what it is… the size of the coun- try is what size it is…' But that's all irrelevant, really. These are all political choices that can be made. If the infra- structure 'is what it is'… it can be changed. You can look at oth- er countries, and see some truly inspiring examples of cities that have removed fly-overs, and ar- terial roads, from their city-cen- tres. In Utrecht, for example, they removed a five-lane thor- oughfare, to bring back a canal… These are all reversals of de- cisions made 20, 30 years ago – when those countries were also completely 'car-focused', at the time. But eventually, they re- alised that… "With hindsight, those were not the best deci- sions we ever made; so we're go- ing to change now, to a system that we believe needs for work for today." That may well be true for infra- structural projects like roads and fly-overs… but the Trans- port Minister would surely re- tort: "What about the size of the country?" That certainly 'is what it is'; and it can hardly be 'changed', can it? Sorry, but that's a ridiculous argument! Being a small country should actually make it easier, not harder, to change the infra- structure. For one thing, the dis- tances are so short. Transport Malta's own masterplan showed that the average commuting dis- tancing here is only 5.5 km. That is actually ideal for cycling… but not very efficient, for a car. So it really should be the other way round. Yet they still use our 'small size' as an excuse not to dedicate any space to alternative modes of transport: ignoring the fact that all sustainable modes of transport – from walking, to cycling, to scooting (or whatev- er other micro-mobility modes are coming up now), to public transport… all of them are 10, 50, 100 times more efficient, at moving people, than the car. At the end of the day, however, these are just excuses to avoid having to change the system. One thing to bear in mind, when it comes to transport, is that that - for the past 30, 30 years - every- one has been pushed into a sys- tem whereby the car was almost the only choice. Already in the Structure Plan of 1992, they had identified 'over-reliance on cars' as a seri- ous issue. There were different predictions, about how the com- ing 10-20 years would develop; and how severe the problem would become… Well, we now know that it be- came more 'severe' that their worst-case scenario. Because even though the problem was SUZANNE MAAS – Climate Campaign Coordinator at Friends of the Earth Malta, and a researcher specialising in Sustainable Mobility – argues that, contrary to the Transport Minister's recent claim, 'there is plenty that can be done' to accommodate more bicycles on Malta's roads Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt