Limit Of 200,000 Cars On The Road? Luqa Deputy Mayor Proposes License Market System To Combat Traffic
How much are you willing to sacrifice to solve Malta’s notorious traffic problem?
Kearon Bruno, the deputy mayor of Luqa who is reading for a Master’s degree in Transport Economics, has proposed in his thesis a pretty drastic solution to permanently cap the number of licensed cars at 200,000 and create a market for car licenses.
This is how such a system could work, as outlined in Bruno’s thesis, which was carried out under the tutorage of economists Philip von Brockdorff and Marie Briguglio.
There are around 302,000 licensed passenger cars in Malta, which means the government must buy around 102,000 licenses to decrease the stock to 200,000.
Bruno suggests two potential scenarios.
In the first one, the government will buy everyone’s license and auction them all off to 200,000 bidders, with each family only allowed one license.
Otherwise, the government will issue a tender and buy the 102,000 licenses that are offered to it at the cheapest price.
The number of licenses will then remain permanently capped at 200,000, meaning any potential new driver must find someone willing to pass on or sell their license to them.
It is essentially a system that has been tried and tested in Shanghai and Singapore, with a study in Shanghai showing that car licenses ended up costing more than the cars themselves.
Singapore has capped the number of cars on its roads
Bruno intends to present his study to Transport Minister Ian Borg and, while he is aware it will probably prove politically unpopular, he also knows its benefits could be significant.
This is because of the massive revenue boost that the government will receive if it auctions off everyone’s licenses, money it can use to invest in a metro, train or tram or to improve the ferry system. With less cars on the road, public transport will also automatically move faster and become more efficient.
Bruno’s proposal comes hot on the heels of ‘Vexit’, a proposal by entrepreneur Lewis Holland for the government to offer to buy people’s cars at their market value and, in return, give drivers a lifetime pass for free public transport as well as credits in alternative transport.
What do you make of this proposal?
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