During a press conference on mobility this morning, Alternattiva Demokratika mentioned the need to make roads and urban centres more people friendly.

AD spokesperson Prof. Arnold Cassola said, “pedestrians’ rights are to be safeguarded. As such, more pedestrian zones should be created, especially in commercial areas and in our village and town centres.

“At present the disregard for the needs of the most vulnerable people of our society, such as people with disabilities, ageing persons and parents with prams, is quite high. The lack of planning with regards to the positioning of street furniture, lamp-posts and signposts is sometimes impressive and this lack of planning is proving to be of real hindrance to the mobility of these categories.

“The arrogance of the PN and the PL, who have illegally occupied Maltese roads and pavements with massive billboards for the past 4 and 10 months respectively -including placing some on ramps for disabled people- shows a strong lack of sensitivity for the needs of all Maltese citizens, in particular those with particular needs. Alternattiva Demokratika insists that improved accessibility to Maltese roads for the disabled, the elderly and parents of young children should be the priority.”

AD spokesperson on energy, transport and infrastructure, Ralph Cassar added, “urban centres and areas to which people commute to for work need more investment in mass transportationsystems. We need public transport which connects all arterial roads which are clogged with traffic, especially in the morning.

“The heavy traffic from Bugibba through Mosta, Birkirkara to the University bypass and from Marsa, Marsaskala, Fgura to Paola are especially problematic. The congestion from Rabat to Attard, Msida, Gzira and Sliema shows that there are routes which people use to commute too for work which are not served well by public transport.

“We need data to establish people’s travel patterns. It seems that government takes decisions on bus routes on hunches rather than hard and fast data. Encouraging alternative and new modes of travel in urban areas is also a must.”

Parties are allowed to place extra billboards in safe locations on roads only when an election is officially declared. In the meantime only commercial billboards with a MEPA permit can be used.

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