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If you’ve ever driven in a Maltese city, you’ll know that it makes Italy’s roads seem like a stately cruise. There’s just one road rule: lean on the horn and hope for the best.
Apart from Mdina, ‘the silent city’ where cars are largely banned because the mediaeval streets are simply too narrow, the tiny Mediterranean country has a higher rate of car ownership than many, far larger, countries in the EU. The government desperately wants to cut down the number of vehicles on Malta’s crammed roads, but young people – their targets so far – are having none of it.
The Maltese government is struggling to get out of first gear with its plan to pay €25,000 over five years to anyone aged 18 to 30 who is willing to give up their driver’s licence.
Why young people? Mostly because car ownership is concentrated in that demographic and account for about 60 per cent of vehicles. Still, you can’t blame them for feeling hard done by.
“It’s a big thing, getting your licence,” says Gianluca Cremona, 18, an apprentice aviation mechanic.
“It’s a big part of being 18, driving around and having a bit of fun. So this idea doesn’t seem to sit right with a lot of people.”
Now, you know me: I’d love to blame this one on Boomers but, in this case, it’s my fellow GenX codgers who are the villains. Both transport minister Chris Bonett and PM Robert Abela are GenXers (though Bonett is on the cusp of being one of the only generations worse than the Boomers: the Millennials). But, I digress.
The other thing about getting around Malta is just how crappy the bus services are, which is something the youngsters are quick to point out.
It is not just that Cremona wants to drive to the beach with his friends. (He recommends Golden Bay and Ghadira, north-west of the capital, Valletta). It is his concern that public transport is not good enough […]
The Maltese National Youth Council says young people have repeatedly said that no financial incentive would convince them to give up their cars.
“Individuals cannot be expected to abandon private vehicles unless they are first provided with a public transport system that is reliable, efficient and trustworthy,” it says.
What might be charming Mediterranean inefficiency to a tourist is a daily nightmare for locals who have to work for a living.
Cremona is at the start of his apprenticeship and expects to work long hours with a 6am start at the airport outside Valletta. Speaking to this masthead in the capital, he says he cannot do this by public transport.
“Buses? They’re not that reliable. We can all be honest about that. There’s no metro. That’s the main problem,” he says.
“It’s impossible to work without a car. It’s impossible to start your life properly without a car.”
So, the youngsters have a challenge for us oldies: put yer money where your mouths are.
Cremona has a solution for the government: change the incentive. He thinks the money should be offered to older people so they take their cars off the roads – starting with people aged over 70.
This should pick up some time after geriatric pigs grow their wings.
