Your Gut Feeling Was Right: Car Usage In Malta Has Increased An Awful Lot

Drowning in traffic on a daily basis? If you’ve been feeling like Malta keeps depending on cars even more, your gut feeling is very right. 

A survey which has been carried out by Project Aegle shows that we had an increase in car dependency on this island in the past eight years… and a significant one at that.

Car usage increased from 74.6% to 83.2% between 2010 and 2018. 

The survey concluded that 83.2% of its respondents use a car to travel, only 10.8% of trips are made using public transport, while 1.2% are made using coaches or minibuses. 1.6% of the respondents said they use motorbikes.

That means 1.6% of the people who partook in this survey use motorbikes. 1.2% travel on foot and a meagre 0.8% use a bicycle. 

As you can see from these charts, we are highly dependent on our vehicles, which also means there is an increase of cars on the road. 

This survey only took into consideration Maltese people’s travel habits and did not take into consideration any foreign residents, tourists or foreign students. 

Which means we’re all becoming lazy AF.

Bus usage has decreased from 11.3% to 10.8%

Trips on foot have seen a severe decreaseL 7.6% of the people who partook in the 2010 survey travelled by foot, but the 2018 number is a laughable 1.2%. 

Motorbike usage did register an increase, with the 1.6% following a 0.5% increase.

Nicoletta Moss, Project Manager at Project Aegle, said that most probably the Maltese authorities will be carrying out another National Household Travel Survey in 2020 to keep up with the 10-year gap. 

“Given the significant changes in travel patterns, mobility and the economic situation in Malta in recent years, we felt the need for a more immediate understanding of people’s travel patterns, which is why we carried out this survey,” Nicolle said. 

“It is encouraging that 45.2% of respondents that did not use their car, actually had access to a car. This means that they chose an alternative mode of transport. This is also a risk because they can very easily switch back to using their car which would worsen the situation in Malta.” 

This survey was coordinated by the Head of Geography and Director of the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development Prof. Maria Attard. 

“We embarked on this initiative to take stock of the situation and current travel patterns. We also hope to raise awareness with the public so as to better understand the current situation and inform public debate,” she said.

This latest survey was conducted out over the phone and a total of 250 respondents participated. 

Project Aegle is a foundation which is actively working to inform the public about traffic congestions, parking problems and any possible solutions we might have as a country. 

They also encourage people to share any ideas or support in the implementation of mobility solutions. 

Do you know anyone who needs to stop using their car? Tag them in the comments below

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