19th November 2001

FoE backs resident parking schemes

Friends of the Earth (Malta) fully supports the proposed residents parking scheme for Victoria, Gozo and hopes similar schemes will be introduced in other localities soon.

The authorities in Malta need to start coming to grips with Malta’s transport problems which are set to increase unless action is taken soon.

The Planning Authority has indicated that there will be 370,000 vehicles on the roads by 2020, an increase of 123,000 vehicles over the current figures, yet little to nothing is being done to cater for such an increase.

The Vitoria Gozo scheme would be a first step towards a more sustainable transport and parking situation and has several advantages:

The scheme recognises the need to make the best use of existing parking spaces, rather than proposing the creation of new spaces, which would entail more use of land. This is in line with concepts of sustainable transport planning, which draws from experiences that the creation of new parking spaces often resulted in more traffic congestion but not in solving parking problems. This can be seen from local examples of new multi-storey car parks in congested areas, which far from solving the parking problem have contributed to the high increase of traffic towards these centres.

The competition for existing parking spaces between residents, visitors and commuters has often seen the residents abandon the tradition town central areas and move to new suburbs. From a planning point of view, this is dangerous, since it puts more pressure on the urban fringes, with the increased pressure on natural land to be developed. This also increases the dependency on the private car, therefore further aggravating traffic problems.

The control of parking spaces by time will not only give residents better opportunities to be able to find a parking space, but will also give short-term visitors the chance to park closer to the centre. This will increase the commercial viability of the centre, and therefore reduce pressures for development of out-of-town shopping centres.

The lack of car-restraint policies and the perception of unrestricted parking is one of the main contributing factors in the decline of public transport. This leads to demands from the operators to increase the fare, which will in turn increase the burden of travel costs to the lower income groups.