New NSO data confirms increasing traffic chaos despite ‘free’ public transport

Malta’s massive traffic problems are becoming worse every year, new NSO statistics confirm.

As the government tries to implement day-to-day solutions, without any long-term plan, throwing away hundreds of millions on ‘free’ public transport and new roads, statistics clearly point towards an increasingly crisis scenario.

Based on the latest available data, 2022, the new NSO statistics reveal a sharp rise in the number of traffic accidents and fatalities, particularly due to an increase in the number of vehicles commuting on Malta’s small and congested road network.

The NSO said in 2022, 15,713 traffic accidents were reported, an increase of 1,578 over 2021.

More worrying was the fact that 2022 registered 28 road fatalities, 15 of them being pedestrians not involved in any driving. This was a shocking increase over 2021, when only nine traffic accidents resulted in fatalities.

As Maltese residents continue to resort to private cars, some 33 new vehicles a day, or 23,016, were licensed in 2022. This was almost a 10% increase over 2021 when Malta had already licensed 28 new cars daily.

While most of the 2022 licensed vehicles were reported to be brand new (over 60%), the amount of cheap second-hand cars that were newly licensed remained high, further increasing traffic congestion.

The latest statistics also noted that during the same year, public transport commuters reportedly increased by another 40 million trips.

As a measure to try to ease congestion and shift travellers towards public transport and ditch their private cars, the government is subsidising the Spanish-owned public transport monopoly by some €80 million a year.

Yet, the latest statistics continue to show that the ‘free’ public transport initiative is failing spectacularly, as traffic and private cars continue to increase.

The reported increase in the use of public transport, based on statistics supplied by the Spanish company, points towards a continued increase in population, mainly through the immigration of third-country nationals to sustain economic growth.