30 Jahre alte Probleme, in Malta 7 Tage ohne Auto zu überleben.

I survived a year without a car, and it was no problem. People need to grow up.

As a 27 year old Maltese person who doesn’t drive (never got a driving license), people are too used to the confront of their cars and simply need to learn to adapt.

I don’t have a car and it’s fine. I do work from home though.

Bus, Bolt, walking and bicycle get me everywhere and I’m probably fitter (less fat) than if I had a car.

Mhux biex inkun pastaż ta, jumejn ilu użajt darba tal-linja għax il-karozza jmissa s-service, x‘ tagħmel hux. Ir-riħa taqsam t‘ għaraq li kien hemm xammejta minn barra. Kif infetħet il-bieba leqatni riħa ta‘ mewt. Intiena assoluta. Kif ħallast, għax ovjament tal-linja card ma nħaddanx, pruvajt nilmaħ seat u reġa‘ darli għax iktar kemm tidħol ‚il ġewwa, iktar ixxomm irwejjaħ. Kelli seba‘ mitt sena biex nasal ħa noħrog ‚il barra. Ktibt bil-Malti biex nipprova nevita li nweġġa‘ lil xi ħadd personalment.

>After a day of using Google maps, my car-free colleague advised me to download the Tallinja app.

>There were a few hiccups, with failure to load at times, but the app was easy to use and allowed me to track buses in real time, a great help for time management and scheduling my trips.

This is true. The Tallinja app is unfortunately not 100% at all times. There are times when the departure board on Google Maps is more accurate than the Tallinja app though.

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>I had to carry my work bag, laptop bag and tote bag full of things I would need after work. I was worried I would leave one of them behind, so I’d end up piling them onto my lap during the trip.

The smart thing to do here is to carry everything in one bag as much as possible, such as a tech back bag as these can easily carry a laptop with space for so many other things. This sounds like a bad day waiting to happen as with three bags being carried the possibility of one of them being misplaced increases.

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>Then there was the experience of watching not one, not two, but three buses pass by without stopping, overflowing with passengers.

Number of buses need to be increased and frequency needs to be improved. Taxes should really be relocated strategically to public transport if people are expected to ditch their diving license for years.

Also, here comes a hot take: bendy buses should’ve never been removed. Drivers were supposed to be trained how to properly manage such long vehicles.

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>One morning I was running late and it was raining heavily. I knew traffic would be slower than usual, but little did I realise others too were scrambling to book a cab, so it took me some time to secure one.

This is a Malta problem. Whenever it rains, the traffic situation during the morning rush hour becomes a nightmare. Unfortunately, no car, bus or cab will make a difference here.

>The cab rides were easy and comfortable. But how viable would it be to use them frequently?

>I spend an average of €40 per month on petrol, and just three trips by cab cost me just over €40. Sure, I’d also save on car insurance and maintenance, but I know that even if I caught a bus most of the time, I’d still use a cab in urgent situations and spend more than I’d planned to.

In the long run, money is still being saved from car insurance and maintenance. Using a cab for emergencies and urgent situations is the smart thing to do. Also, Bolt is not the only ride-hailing service here. We have eCabs and Uber as well and having all three services handy would mean picking the best option when planning a trip as costs and waiting times can vary between all three. eCabs has a loyalty scheme where you can get discounts over time, though they nerfed this quite a while ago and Uber gives out promos the more you use it.

In the end, this actually depends on one’s situation and lifestyle. Having a minimalist mentality helps with commuting in Malta without a car.

Depends a lot on your job and where you live. I live in Sliema, my work is hybrid (3 days in the office, 2 wfh). I have not had a car for 5 years now. I made a conscious choice to rent in Sliema because I had most amenities nearby.

I Bolt to work most days, but usually can get a bus back ( St. Paul’s Bay). Bolt for 4-5 trips per week – is around 60 euro/week, so let’s say 250 per month. I could probably do more busses but I am not that patient and especially in summer I dislike seeing the full busses just drive by.

Groceries I get delivered when I buy in bulk, the rest I can get from corner stores. Same for most heavy purchases.

I walk quite a lot – anything under 4 kms is walking distance for me, sometime even further.

I know it looks expensive, but I dont need to rent a garage (street parking in Sliema is a nightmare), or pay for a parking spot. I do not need car insurance. I do not need to pay for fuel, oil changes and all other consumables. I do not need to worry about the car. There were extremely few times in the past 5 years where I thought „I could really use a personal car right now“.

However as mentioned in the first sentence – I can afford to do this because of my work and because I can afford it. Would I have to do this 5 days a week, or travel across Malta multiple times a day, or live in a place more remote – then probably a car would be needed.

I commute from Naxxar every day by bus. It’s free (which is nice) and folks are generally pleasant. Buses are 99% on time or close to it. I get into work about 15 minutes before I start and I leave work with 5 mins to catch the bus home. The commute takes around 35 minutes. Traffic huh? I don’t have to worry about parking or crazy drivers.

Now it’s not going to suit everyone. I’m on a decently well served route.

The reason why you should ALL be advocating for bus use is that each bus removes other cars from the road. Everyone who can be taking the bus (or god forbid, a train) should take it.

At this rate it seems there are more new cars on the island every day than babies being born. (I don’t have the numbers to hand). Air quality is awful and … no … electric cars don’t help much there as it’s the particulate matter thrown up by roads and disintegrating tyres which are bad.

If it wasn’t for the dreadful cycling provisions, I’d bike to work. It would take about 15 mins. But there’s nowhere to store the bike and there’s zero cycle paths. I used an ebike in the U.K., Ireland, France, Portugal and Spain. You’d be mad to use one in Malta.

As someone from Eastern Europe, I find the topic of this thread a bit amusing. I spent 7 days in Malta last week. We didn’t use any cars. Bolt and Uber work perfectly there and can take you to almost any point on the island, public transport is great, and you can cycle from north to south of the island three times in a day. Honestly, I don’t understand why you even need cars at all xD

My girlfriend doesn’t drive and I cannot imagine how our life would be without me driving. First of all, we could forget our monthly shopping as it would be impossible without the car. Second, aside from buses always being packed, there are some that simply vanish from thin air for unknown reasons. I don’t know how many times we have waited for the bus together, only to see the bus vanish from the app when it should have arrived.
It simply is not an effective means for transport for day to say living