We must be honest about Malta’s traffic situation. According to the 2026 Budget projections, there is little or nothing to solve the present conundrum. In truth, we notice how recurrent expenditure is expected to increase by €355 million next year while capital expenditure is expected to decrease by €100 million. In simple terms, we are spending more to sustain a domestic market and boost our GDP rather than invest in permanent solutions for the future. The term sustainable transport systems do not feature in the mindset at Castille, since the primary objective was to shower €160 million in new tax cuts for families with children. This is highly commendable given our rock bottom fertility rate. Yet the monumental problem of mobility is costing the island millions by way of lost time in commuting and the uncontrolled emissions from ICE cars. Improvement in transport systems exist to provide social and economic connections, and people quickly take up the opportunities offered by increased mobility with low-income households benefiting greatly from low carbon transport options. Scientific studies on primary emissions discovered the presence of hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and sulfur oxides.
Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, various global regulatory agencies were formed with a primary focus on studying the vehicle emissions and their effects on human health and the environment. As the world’s understanding of vehicle emissions improved, so did the devices used to mitigate their impacts. In the United States, the regulatory requirements of the Clean Air Act, which was amended many times, greatly restricted acceptable vehicle emissions. It is no secret that air pollution kills 7 or 8 million people each year. It is a significant risk factor for a number of diseases, including stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and lung cancer. Everyone knows how particulate matter is the deadliest, both for indoor and outdoor air pollution. Such large number of private vehicles in our narrow streets causes several issues, namely a huge release of greenhouse gases.
Our subsidization by the State of fossil fuel exacerbates the dependency on ICE vehicles since most cars are still fuel-powered, as well as infrastructural issues such as roads congestion and parking spots lacking in most villages. The transport minister does not want to bite the bullet. There is no willingness to install parking meters in the urban. Again, there is no additional capex in the budget to build multiple underground parking lots like the exclusive one outside Valletta. The stock of licensed motor vehicles continues unabated. This means a net average rate of 37 motor vehicles per day. Statistics from NSO reveal newly licensed vehicles 4,737 or 59.8 per cent of the total, were passenger cars, followed by motorcycles/E-bikes/PA-bikes with 1,989 or 25.1 per cent. Petrol-powered engines accounted for 58.1 per cent of the total stock of licensed motor vehicles, followed by diesel-powered engines (34.6 per cent), and electric and plug-in hybrid engines (4.3 per cent). Compared to the first quarter of 2025, increases of 7.2 per cent, 6.0 per cent and 5.1 per cent were registered in plug-in hybrid (diesel-electric), electric, and mild hybrid (petrol-electric) motor vehicles respectively. This is a slow start for EV units, given that there is a dearth of charging pillars. Only a radical rethink of our transport system away from private vehicles will bring down unacceptably high road deaths and reduce poisonous gases in our atmosphere. Yet, the exchequer primes the pump of domestic expenditure and as stated earlier has reduced capital allocations. As already discussed, expect more gases, like ozone or nitrogen oxides, small particles like soot and dust. Both outdoor and indoor air can be polluted. Outdoor air pollution comes from burning fossil fuels (LNG for BWSC and Electrogas plants) both for electricity generation and transport.
Recent wildfires in a Marsa scrap yard smoke billowed savagely for four hours polluting the southern part of the island. Good to heed the superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci. She warned that exposure to the smoke could lead to a “variety of respiratory and systemic symptoms”, including coughing or wheezing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. These may lead to irritated or burning eyes, sore throat, headaches, dizziness, fatigue and sinus or nasal congestion were also possible health impacts of smoke inhalation. What can be done in the short term? The idea of developing a form of passenger’s transportation scheme based on shared vehicles rather than private cars comes from the theme of sustainable mobility. The expected reduction in number of vehicles means owners expect compensation; moreover, bulk space allocation for redistribution of abandoned vehicles must be taken into account.
Another aspect is the introduction of autonomous taxis. These would reduce operating costs by eliminating the need for a human driver, which might make it an affordable form of transportation and increase the popularity of AV cars. Since robotaxis have fewer accidents than human drivers, they are almost certainly saving lives. Unlike private cars, they can be in near-continuous use; the more popular they become, the more they will free up space and make urban life more comfortable. In many places, nowadays iron clad regulation is a roadblock to self-driving taxis. Some restrictions slow the development of the tech itself. In America, firms need approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to deviate from federal standards by, say, building a car without pedals or a steering wheel, both of which are more useful to a human than to an AI driving system.
In summary, we cannot take an Ostrich’s stance and hope the nightmare goes away. The robotaxi idea raises many questions: when tech automates a profession, what happens to the thousands of licensed “Y “plate cars. A few hundred can be retrofitted with sensors (as the car pictured above in Shenzhen China) and used to carry some of four million visitors to and from the airport.
