Reducing traffic congestion through offering complimentary school transport : a critical evaluation

Abstract

The traffic phenomena in Malta has been a widely recognized issue for the past 10 years. Whilst authorities did indeed acknowledge the problem and introduce measures and policies along the years – in an attempt to reduce traffic levels – one can conclude that the impact of such interventions were minimal. School transport has been in the limelight in recent years. Primary and secondary schools constitute a substantial percentage of morning flows of people on a transport network within developed nations. Most often than not, these trips occur in a narrow window of time. This is clearly problematic during the early morning period, particularly between 7:30am-8:30am, which unsurprisingly accounts for 11% of the total daily traffic. On a national level, statistics indicate that 45% of children utilize school transport, while it can be assumed that remaining 55% are driven in private vehicles. Recently, the government has pledged to offer free school transport to all primary and secondary school children. This research longs to establish the factors that need to be taken into account for this measure to be successful; i.e. will result in a higher uptake of children utilizing school transport and thus reducing traffic flows. This research assessed the responses of two schools: San Anton School in Mgarr (Independent school) and Stella Maris College, Gzira (Church School); in an attempt to project the likeliness of success of this measure – in conjunction with other factors deemed to be relevant by parents in relation to the service offered.