Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517916
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 MARCH 2024 7 INTERVIEW The following are excerpts from the interview. The full interview can be found on maltatoday.com.mt as well as our Facebook and Spotify pages. Scan this QR code to see the full interview. Traffic always figures as a top five concern. Mal- tese people love their cars and no politician has ever proposed introducing dis- incentives to personal car use such as payment for on street parking and higher car taxes. At this rate, can we ever solve the traffic problem? I will challenge your question because it is as if every solution should require burdening people [with taxes]. I be- lieve there are things we can do [to better manage the problem]… no one has the magic wand that will make the traffic problem disappear. We live in a small cosmopolitan urbanised is- land and the mentality we must adopt when tackling traffic issues has to be that of a city… there are things that we can have a conversation about that do not necessarily require us to bur- den people's pockets… I believe that we have not used the sea enough as a transport means. One of the first de- cisions taken by this government at the start of the year was to make the harbour ferry services free of charge and the figures show that people are buying into the concept. But are these people who are leaving their car at home because when buses became free of charge, more people started using them but we did not see a reduction in personal car use? We witnessed an increase of 37% in passengers on the harbour ferry ser- vices in just two weeks in January and the figures for February are also en- couraging. The people who used the ferry, either left their car at home, or else drove to the landing place and opted to complete the last part of the journey to Valletta by boat. This is already one car less on the road at a particular time and for part of the jour- ney… Do you agree that the driv- ing age should increase to 21? Government has no plan whatsoever to increase the age at which one can obtain a driving licence. What we are definitely against is lowering the driv- ing age to 17 as is being proposed by some countries at EU level. Government is spending millions to subsidise [free] public transport. What is the country getting back in return for this hefty in- vestment? It is not a small investment but it is an investment that makes sense… in 2023 we had 17 million more passen- ger trips over the previous year and in 2022 there were 15 million more passenger trips than 2021… I person- ally believe that we can do more and there are ongoing discussions with the operator, Malta Public Transport, to improve the service. One of the is- sues being discussed is whether we should rethink the routes, which were last updated in 2014… the numbers justify the subsidy because if we had not done so, there was the possibility that those additional 17 million pas- senger trips could have been private car users. But let's face it, even the Tal-Linja app does not show you in real time where the bus has arrived, making it difficult for a first-time user to understand when the bus will pass. You are correct and we did speak to Malta Public Transport about this and from Monday (25 March) they will be updating their app so that people will be able to see where the bus they are waiting for has arrived, similar to cer- tain apps we use when ordering food. They have been working on this up- date for some time and I have to salute MPT because they are very receptive. Are you happy with how Transport Malta is operat- ing? We have heard of a lot of scandals at this authori- ty over the past years. Transport Malta is a large entity that employs around 1,000 workers… the vast majority of workers at TM are ded- icated people, who love their work, love their country and want to make a difference. Like every workplace, you had certain situations that could have been handled better… We had scandals not as you describe them, 'certain situations'… I have to be careful as a minister how to speak about what you are calling scandals because there are ongoing proceedings and I do not want to prej- udice anybody's position… Are there any changes being done internally to ensure these scandals do not repeat themselves or is TM such a big monster that it cannot be controlled? I refute the statement that the au- thority is too big a monster because it means that we have given up… The good work Transport Malta has done over the years outweighs the inefficiencies there may have been… I have full faith in the board and the new CEO, Col. Mark Mallia and the au- thority's processes will be evaluated… our job is to act as quickly as possible when problems arise to ensure they are not repeated. PHOTOS: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTA TODAY