Opinion: Aaron Farrugia’s E-Scooter Message Is Clear – Cars Will Always Triumph Over Alternatives
I’m struggling to think of the ultimate logic behind Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia’s decision to ban rental e-scooters from Malta.
Surely many people are going to praise the decision. No more having to look in your rear mirror for e-scooters, no more scooters riding the wrong way, no more scooters blocking the pavement.
But make no mistake that this is a massive blow to alternative forms of transport in Malta.
Rental scooters have boomed in popularity simply because they are the most convenient and affordable form of alternative transport available in the country.
Unlike buses, you don’t need to wait for one to turn up, there is no risk of it being full up and the service doesn’t stop at a certain time. Unlike taxis, prices are extremely affordable and don’t soar to crazy levels at certain hours.
In some cases, they are even more convenient than using a car because the hassle of finding a place to park is significantly reduced.
Other than buses and taxis, the only other option to travel by land through shared transport is to make use of the Tallinja bike-sharing system, but there are only 14 docking stations in Malta and Gozo.
To be fair, a new national cycling strategy does envisage more bike stalls to integrate cycling with public transport but that can only be judged once implemented.
E-scooters can certainly be an inconvenience but they’re by no means the biggest problem in Malta’s transport system.
The biggest problem is that there are too many cars on the island, and unfortunately the most likely upshot of this policy is that more people will use cars more often.
If the government is serious about reducing car use, which is supposed to be official policy, then its first mission should obviously be to promote shared alternative means of transport.
One vehicle for multiple people simply makes sense for a country as small and overpopulated as Malta.
However, within the past year, shared transport companies have left the island one by one.
Nextbike and other shared transport companies have left Malta
Bike-sharing app Nextbike, electric car sharing app GoTo and carpooling app Cool have all left the island for good. Rather than protecting the ones that remained, the government has opted to show Bolt and Bird’s scooters the door too.
Meanwhile, the number of private cars has continued to increase, with the latest data showing there are now over 424,000 vehicles on the road.
The government should have pounced on the popularity of e-scooters as an opportunity to promote them as part of its ‘Slow Streets’ and Project Green projects.
Its overarching message should have been that people should only use their cars to travel through main and arterial roads but that they should then park it near town peripheries and make use of multiple forms of shared transport (including e-scooters) to travel through town and village cores.
Instead, it went down the easy route. While banning e-scooters may give the government a few brownie points in the short-term, the ultimate result is obvious – a destruction of the shared transport model, fewer options to the public, demotivation among businesses to invest in creative solutions, and ultimately more clogged roads.
What do you think the e-scooter ban means for the future of transport in Malta?
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