1.0 Background

Rota (formerly known as Bicycle Advocacy Group) is a Maltese NGO which has been advocating for safe bicycle infrastructure, and promoting cycling as a means of transportation in the Maltese islands since 2012. Congestion, increasing road accidents (with subsequent fatalities), and increased health problems such as asthma and obesity, are three of the main problems relating to road infrastructure. Sustainable mobility must be prioritised with immediate action.

The fundamental questions that we need to ask ourselves are:

• How can we truly share the roads with ALL users? Safety for the most vulnerable (i.e. pedestrians and cyclists, amongst other micromobility users) must be prioritised.
• What is the current uptake for walking and cycling, and what is being done to improve this? Are current measures working to make mass transport more sustainable?
• Are our streets accessible and inclusive? If I need to walk, cycle, or use a wheelchair, can I reach point B from point A safely and independently?

Evidence from other countries around the globe strongly suggests that the current modus operandi employed by the authorities in Malta will not only produce very short-term gains, but makes the goal of achieving sustainable mobility much harder. This is why several countries are shifting from simple road-widening exercises to more holistic solutions.

Carbon emission reductions need to be ramped up drastically and immediately. Under the global Paris Agreement of 2015 and the European Green Deal, Malta is obliged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050 in the EU. The New EU Urban Mobility Framework (2021), which guides EU member states’ mobility policy, stresses the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to “shift away from the current approach to improve traffic flow, and instead move to an approach based on moving people and goods more sustainably, with a focus on strong public transport, promotion of active mobility, and zero-emission urban logistics”. This links also with a planned Commission Recommendation in 2022 to Member States, on a national support programme for rolling out SUMP (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans) with public transport and active mobility (walking and cycling) at its heart.

The following proposals, put forward by our members and arising from discussions and debates that Rota held with various stakeholders during the past years, have been divided into four areas – Legal, Policy, Infrastructural, and Fiscal. Such changes will directly and positively ameliorate some of Malta’s most pressing problems, including physical and mental health, congestion, air quality, and our environment.

2.0 Legal Framework

People on bicycles often feel that Maltese laws do not protect them and policies favour those driving their own cars rather than those making use of alternative transport. While there are several laws which cater for car drivers, whenever it comes to cyclists’ rights, little is known.

• Rota is proposing that the Government ensures that presumed liability laws are in place, which is necessary to actively protect more vulnerable road users from motor vehicles.
• Another law which is applicable in other European countries is the minimum distance law, which dictates the clearance distance between a motor vehicle and pedestrians and cyclists.
• Our highway code needs to be updated, since it is now outdated. The Maltese highway code is based on the UKs, which has since been updated. However, this change was not reflected in our highway code. One noticeable change is the road user hierarchy in the UK. The hierarchy places those road users most at risk in the event of a collision at the top of the hierarchy. People facing the greatest risk in the event of a collision – pedestrians and cyclists – will be prioritised above motorists, who have the most responsibility to consider others. However, the new rules do not “remove the need for everyone to behave responsibly”. Other noticeable changes include roundabout etiquette, crossings, and cyclist positioning in the roads.

 

 

3.0 Policy Framework

A national cycling policy acts as a guide and standard for new road projects, dictating what kind of measures each project should include according to several categories of road widths and whether the type of street or road is an access, distributor, or arterial, to make sure that new infrastructure is inclusive and accessible for bicycle users.

This would also act as a framework for improving already existing infrastructure. Finally, a National Cycling Policy is a promise for current and future legislatures to commit to prioritise active transport.

• Publish the long overdue National Cycling Policy, which was announced in the Transport Master Plan of 2016 but was never published. This is different from the National Cycling Strategy (NCS), which sets the direction for the country and which has already been published for consultation, but the buck stopped there. The majority of steps have never been implemented and regretfully, some situations have gone to the worse and new literal barriers created).
• Implement measures published in the National Cycling Strategy. All the measures listed in the strategy are recommended, but we highlight the below. Note that these were supposed to be implemented by 2025:
  • Establish a stakeholder consultation forum (including users and NGOs) entitled Cycling Malta to oversee the implementation of the NCS and to maximise the potential of integrating cycling networks and service. We also recommend a dedicated cycling commissioner who will act as a reference point.
  • Carry out studies to identify routes and connectivity issues
  • Develop Design Standards and Guidelines regulating the provision of cycling infrastructure in Malta to ensure adherence.
  • Collaborate with motorcycle schools or other institutions to establish and provide training programs for cycling.
  • Develop incentives for the introduction of bike to work schemes as part of the green travel plans.
  • Establish training programs for the education of professionals in designing cycling routes and cycling infrastructure.
  • Implement pilot projects for safe cycling routes to schools and educational establishments.
  • Reduce and enforce traffic speed limits through effective traffic calming design in Urban Areas
  • Identify key centres of attraction/work places / leisure centres and implement a minimum of one cycle parking scheme at an identified location every year.
  • Engage with shop owners and shopping malls to provide cycle racks for customers.
  • Promote facilities on buses to accommodate boarding a bicycle (this is to this day unallowed).
  • Plan, design and implement a minimum of three Urban Safe Cycling routes per year.
  • Implement pilot projects for cycle friendly streets
  • Ensure that road humps do not extend for the full width of the road up to the edge of the footway along cycle routes.
  • Develop a maintenance plan to prioritise pothole and drainage repairs, and cleaning of cycle infrastructure.
  • Update national legislation to address the regulation of speeds in cycle friendly streets and shared pedestrian footpaths, contraflows, pedelec registration, helmet usage and protection of vulnerable road users.
  • Implement cycling monitoring units.

We note that while these documents from Transport Malta reach our expectations, the buck should not stop at the launch of these documents. There should be further follow ups and accountability measures to make sure these steps are implemented. The target for the steps to be implemented in the National Cycling Strategy is 2025. How far have we come so far though?

Other proposals:

• Collaborate with motoring schools and Malta Public Transport to teach car and bus drivers how to interact with pedestrians and cyclists. Taxi drivers and bus drivers who spend their day on the roads and who already have their licenses, should also be trained in this regard.
• Implement a Green Space Policy, which serves as a guideline for new gardens and green spaces to serve as a connection between villages and busy roads, and include cycling infrastructure such as cycle lanes, bicycle parking and bicycle repair stations.
• Strengthen the bicycle sharing policies to ensure more stations are available across Malta in order to increase uptake. The use of shared e-bikes should be further encouraged. In addition to an increase in the number of stations, the onboarding for renting a bicycle must be drastically improved too. We refer to how easy it is to rent a kickscooter to renting a bicycle. The latter is a much more convoluted process and this is a deterrent.

4.0 Infrastructure

The number one deterrent to cycling in Malta is safety. One of the best approaches to tackle this is to design infrastructure that is first and foremost safe for pedestrians and cyclists, and that is safe by design. Such a change will positively impact ALL road users, as has been shown in European cities.

We emphasise that we do not expect that all streets are equipped with segregated bicycle lanes. However, all roads can be shared across all current modes of transport with the proper measures. In some cases, when a bicycle lane isn’t truly possible, there should be other measures in place such as traffic calming measures, or redirecting main traffic flows elsewhere, or filtering it for local residential access. Our call has always been to have streets for everyone. This approaches road projects with pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycles, cars, vans and all modes of transport in mind and aims to reach a compromise for all modes. Most importantly, this type of infrastructure should cater for the needs of its intended user.

Many times in Malta, we see cycling infrastructure being built as an afterthought, with the main aim being solely not to hinder traffic flow. Some of the problems include lack of usability, lack of directness, reduced safety and annoying to use. Such infrastructure acts as a deterrent to cycling since it adds further impediments to users. We list some important aspects on how to tackle the infrastructure problem in the following sections. Note that most of the things discussed here are already present in the National Cycling Strategy, however, are still not implemented. They are also NOT being implemented for new projects.

4.1 Bicycle Network

The CROW Design Manual (2016) suggests five design principles for a good cycling network. These five principles must be the guiding principles when designing new bicycle infrastructure and all five MUST be considered.

1. Cohesion
2. Directness
3. Safety
4. Comfort
5. Attractivenes

Explained further here: https://dtvcapacitybuilding.com/blog/5-design-principles-for-successful-bicycle-infrastructure/

• Carry out studies to identify routes and connectivity issues for bicycle infrastructure
• Ensure that EACH new road project caters for all road users. If segregated bicycle lanes are not possible, adequate traffic calming measures should be implemented. Ideally, these guidelines should be defined in a National Cycling Policy or the Design Standards and Guidelines mentioned in the National Cycling Strategy
• Build safe and segregated bicycle lanes in arterial and main roads. Connections from one village to another must include safe and segregated bicycle infrastructure.
• Similarly to how it was proposed in the National Cycling Strategy, the government should focus on first prioritizing the most densely populated areas for its bicycle network. An example of this is the Northern Harbour area and a radius of 5.5km extending from this area. This distance is not arbitrary, but comes from a study by TM which finds that most trips are 5.5km on average.

4.2 Road Usage

• Reduce speed limits and road widths to discourage over-speeding. This is the most efficient way to improve road safety.
• Dedicate low-traffic streets for foot and bicycle traffic, creating safe corridors for non-motorised traffic.
• Start implementing contraflow signage across Malta to facilitate directness for bicycle users. Re-enabling two-way flow (including contraflow) in roads for bicycles has proven all over mainland Europe to be an effective, low-cost “invisible” infrastructure, that improves permeability and directness through villages, minimises the use of main roads, dangerous intersections, tailgating, circling unnecessary hills, detours, and other tedious toing and froing as would otherwise happen to cyclists when following the same one-way flows – as intended for cars.
• Crossings should be included in strategic positions following natural desire lines at the convenience of the pedestrian and cyclist, not for the least inconvenience of car drivers. The focus must shift from whether a crossing is hindering traffic flow to how pedestrians and cyclists are benefitting from such crossings.
• Apply traffic calming principles in town centers and residential roads, to create safe spaces for walking and cycling, where cars are guests. Cities abroad have implemented this with great success, using street furniture and trees as ‘obstacles’ to slow down traffic.

 

4.3 Bicycle Parking

In Malta, bicycle parking is also a deterrent for cycling. We applaud the government incentives for subsidising bicycle racks for Local Councils and businesses, but a more aggressive approach should be taken to ensure that more sheffield-style racks are installed regularly.

 

• Implement new bicycle parking stations every year which are sheltered from the elements & in an accessible location.
• Encourage businesses to install bicycle racks, and inform them of existing incentives for bicycle parking.
• Collaborate with Local Councils to identify hot-spots at which to install bicycle racks.
• Make sure that the proper bicycle racks are used, and replace any which do not reach the design standards.
• As time goes by, another problem arises in which more people are shifting towards living in apartments, and not everyone owns a garage. It is crucial that such people are kept in mind when designing infrastructure for bicycles. An option for such users would be to have bicycle racks installed next to proper lighting and CCTV cameras close by, or public bicycle lockers.

 

4.4 Maintenance

Roadside debris needs to be cleared from bicycle lanes as this results in a safety hazard. Gutter gratings are not to be installed parallel to the direction of travel as cyclists could risk injury if their wheels get stuck in the gutter.

 

5.0 Fiscal incentives

Cycling is not only a cheaper alternative for the car user, but it also benefits society at large, both environmentally and economically. Several studies have shown that 1km of cycling saves society €0.16, while the same distance by car costs society €0.15.

• We propose that the government strengthens rebates on bicycles and pedelecs to encourage further bicycle purchases.
• Having a substantial part of the workforce that cycles to work does not only help in alleviating traffic, but also promotes a healthier workforce. In fact, employees who cycle to work take on average far less sick days than those who don’t. Providing shower facilities at the place of work will incentivise more employees to cycle to work, thus placing less pressure on the employer to provide parking spaces for their employees. Employers who provide, or are willing to provide such facilities can be financially subsidized by the government through grants and rebates in order to actively promote cycling to work.
• One of the most common approaches taken in many European countries is a mileage allowance where employees are rewarded a small sum for every kilometre cycled to work. For example, in the Netherlands employees are rewarded EUR 0.19c/km and in Belgium it is EUR 0.24c. Similarly places in France and Italy set rates of EUR 0.25c and EUR 0.21c respectively, but then set caps, either annually such as in France (EUR 200) or monthly as in Italy (EUR 25). An alternative to reward by mileage is reward by day, where employees are rewarded for cycling by the number of days they cycle to work within a given work week. Again with or without the option of setting a monthly or annual cap. Such schemes abroad often exist under the umbrella of a government initiative in which the rewards earned are tax free.
• Introduce a cycle-to-school incentive to promote cycling with young students, which can improve the quality of life of students and reduce the burden on the transportation system during school seasons.

 

6.0 Conclusion

The size of our island makes cycling a feasible and sustainable option for many. In the National Cycling Strategy, Transport Malta reports that the average commuting distance for citizens of Malta is 5.5km. Such short distances are ideal for cycling, especially with the introduction of battery-assisted bicycles. Where space is so limited, it is even more important to plan well, and distribute it in an efficient and usable manner.

The bicycle is one of the most efficient ways on how to tackle the country’s most pressing problems including congestion, physical and mental health, air quality, and the environment. Bicycle uptake will also help reclaim public space, which is being eaten up as more time passes. Building more lanes and wider roads only leads to more traffic; and this has been observed everywhere in the world. We need to decide on what future we want to have for us, and for future generations to come. One thing is for certain – we need to rethink our current strategy, change our trajectory and truly commit to active, sustainable transport solutions for a more beautiful and sustainable island.