Concerns over Malta’s traffic problem are always top of the agenda. It consistently ranks among the top public concerns, including in EY’s annual youth survey.

According to Malta’s National Transport Master Plan, the cost of traffic congestion in 2025 was €770 million and is projected to reach €917 million per year by 2030.

That figure does not include environmental costs, such as CO₂ emissions and other air pollutants, which are expected to impose a further €195.4 million per year on the Maltese economy.  

Neither does it cover productivity and social losses in the country. 89% of respondents in a recent survey said that traffic tires them out. Three-quarters also reported missing out on socialising because they dreaded parking and traffic.

Behind those costs lies a simple physical reality: Malta now has 457,403 licensed motor vehicles, and the fleet continues to grow by roughly 35 vehicles a day.

The total number of licensed motor vehicles on Malta’s roads has grown consistently over the past decade, rising from 346,918 in 2015 to 457,403 by the end of 2025 – an increase of 110,485 vehicles, or 31.8% growth over eleven years. 

Growth has been broadly steady, averaging approximately 10,000–11,000 additional vehicles per year.

Today, there are roughly 1,447 vehicles per square kilometre across Malta’s 316 km² land area. 

The growth in vehicles runs concurrently with population growth, the latter mostly brought on by foreign nationals; between 2015 and 2025, Malta’s population increased from 434,000 to 565,000 – a little over 130,000 people.

According to the TomTom Traffic Index, it takes nearly 22 min to drive 10 km in the area around Valletta.

Mass Transport: The Election Carrot

Malta’s plans for a mass transit system are nothing new. They are the carrot that successive governments, PL and PN alike, have dangled before the public without ever following through.

Between 2007 and 2008, the then-Nationalist government commissioned Halcrow to conduct feasibility studies for both Bus Rapid Transit and a Light Rail Network. 

The capital cost for the latter was estimated at between €206 million and €325 million – modest by the standards of the metro and light rail proposals that would follow – with annual operating costs of approximately €7.5 million. 

Both studies were shelved in favour of the notorious Arriva bus privatisation, itself scrapped within three years by the incoming Labour government.

In 2016, a year before the general election, the government published its National Transport Strategy 2050, which identified mass transit as a priority but stopped well short of any binding commitment.

In 2021, again a year before a general election, Transport Malta unveiled an Arup-commissioned proposal for a 35-kilometre, €6.2 billion metro network comprising three lines and 25 stations, most of them underground. Those plans, too, were abandoned on cost grounds.

Then, in April 2026, just days before the general election was called, the government and Transport Minister Chris Bonett announced a revised €2.8 billion ‘La Vallette’ light rail line. 

Bonett said construction would begin within five years, with technical studies to run over the next 18 months. Whether the project will progress beyond the study phase – or join its predecessors in the drawer – remains, as ever, to be seen.

A look at the current public transport system

Free public transport for residents, introduced in October 2022 at an annual cost of around €32.6 million, is the headline policy of the term. 

Use of Malta’s public transport has grown steadily in recent years. In 2024, more than 75.8 million journeys were made on the public bus network – a 12.7% increase on the previous year. The number of registered public transport users also rose, reaching 309,300, up 12.4% from 2023.

Alongside bus services, the government has been expanding sea links between the islands. A fast ferry service connecting Sliema, Buġibba and Gozo was inaugurated on 5th May.

According to the Planning Authority, bike lanes connect Pembroke with St. Paul’s Bay, the airport with Birzebbugia, and Rabat with Attard, but not a single one leads to the University of Malta or MCAST.

Deaths, accidents and injuries:

Between 2010 and 2025, Malta recorded 251 road traffic fatalities. The annual toll has been highly variable, reflecting the unpredictable nature of serious road accidents.

The lowest years on record were 2012 and 2021, both recording just 9 fatalities. In contrast, 2022 was the deadliest year in the dataset with 28 fatalities, the highest figure recorded across the entire analysed period. This was followed by 2016 (23) and 2017 (19).

Looking at who is dying matters as much as how many. Drivers and passengers in enclosed vehicles account for the largest share of road deaths, followed by pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists.

The relative figures tell a starker story than the headcounts. Motorcyclists make up roughly 11% of Malta’s vehicle fleet but account for around a quarter of road deaths. Pedestrians, who are not even vehicle operators, account for more than a quarter of fatalities.

What to watch for:

For voters cutting through the rhetoric, the questions that matter are simpler than the manifestos suggest. Close to half of the Maltese residents surveyed “strongly agreed” that thinking about traffic increases their anxiety. 

Is any party committing not just to announce a mass transit project, but to break ground within the parliamentary term? Is anyone proposing to address private vehicle imports, or relying entirely on demand-side incentives? Is the link between population policy and transport policy being made honestly, or is each treated as someone else’s problem? Is roadbuilding spending going up, down, or sideways under each party’s plan?

The carrot has been dangled before. The test, as ever, is whether 2026 is the year someone takes a bite.