Car in Malta

We do not have a car. We have an excellent bus service here on Gozo that serves all our purposes. If I ever need a car, very rarely and usually only to pick someone up from the airport, I hire one through a local garage. Financially, I also save a lot of money to also be able to afford a taxi or transfer when necessary.
Others may disagree but they mostly live on the mainland of Malta.
I would also look into the various merits of leasing a car rather than buying outright too.

If you are working then if you do not have a car you will need to factor in traveling time at peak times or out of hours if you work shifts. This can be over 1 hour each way depending where you live, so check the area out before deciding.
The arriva website will give to routes and  approximate times, but be aware that the times are a bit like a fairy tale, just loosely based on fact!!

tearnet wrote:

If you are working and you do not have a car you will need to factor in traveling time at peak times or out of hours if you work shifts. This can be over 1 hour each way depending where you live, so check the area out before deciding.
The arriva website will give to routes and  approximate times, but be aware that the times are a bit like a fairy tale, just loosely based on fact!!

Thank you both for replies.

If I have understood correctly, @redmik, you are leaving on smaller island and not on main one ? If supose, I would be leaving on main one, as most IT companies are there.

I think I would not be working in shifts, but if I can spare one, one and half hour for everyday commute, that is good enough reason for me to have an auto.

Depends on where you are planning to live - in a tourist or non-tourist area and of course how far your flat will be from your place of work. There are many posts and links on this blog for you to read peoples' opinions regarding where to live. If you plan to live in a tourist area eg Sliema, St Julians, Spinola Bay etc it is very difficult to find parking when you return home after work as few blocks of flats have their own parking facilities. We live in a town away from the tourist area but within 12 minutes drive to Valletta in mid morning traffic and about 20 minutes in peak traffic. The buses from here however are always very full in peak times and take at least 45 minutes for the same trip - if you are lucky enough to catch one at the time advertised.
From a social life point of view in Malta it's great to have a car to get around in, especially at night, and without a car to get to the north, south or western parts of the island over the weekends, you will spend a great deal of time either waiting for a bus, or sitting on a bus crawling through the traffic.

Malta covers just over 316 km², making it one of the world's smallest and most densely populated countries.
The number of licensed motor vehicles stood at 315,875 at the end of March 2013.
Population as of last year 418,366.
That figure can treble in tourist peak periods.

Happy motoring!

We live in Sliema, but we are very happy with having a car. We have our own parking space, however.
Without a car we would not see very much of the island. Going to the beach for an afternoon would not be the same if we had to spend 90 minutes on the bus getting there. An evening dinner in Mdina would loose much of its appeal getting there by bus.
Owning a car in Malta is very cheap. We pay about 100 euros per year in road tax and another 116 a year insurance. This is almost one tenth of the cost in The Netherlands. Driving in Malta is really not as bad as many people say. Just have to get used to driving on the left side.

redmik wrote:

Population as of last year 418,366.
That figure can treble in tourist peak periods.

no way triple - thats saying 800,000 tourists staying in Malta at the same time - total tourists annually is 1.5m - max tourists at any one time in Malta is probably 200,000 not 800,000

georgeingozo wrote:

redmik wrote:

Population as of last year 418,366.
That figure can treble in tourist peak periods.

no way triple - thats saying 800,000 tourists staying in Malta at the same time - total tourists annually is 1.5m - max tourists at any one time in Malta is probably 200,000 not 800,000

I'll not argue but I was sure I read that in ToM a while ago.
Found this though:

Caution should thus be used in comparing arrivals across countries. The data on inbound tourists refer to the number of arrivals, not to the number of people traveling. Thus a person who makes several trips to a country during a given period is counted each time as a new arrival.

http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/malta/i … al-tourism

It also occured to me that if one is stuck in traffic on a bus then one could be as easily stuck in traffic in a car. Noticed the use of some bus lanes in and out of Valletta, last time I was there, that seemed to speed the journey in and out, especially during 'rush hours'.

georgeingozo wrote:

redmik wrote:

Population as of last year 418,366.
That figure can treble in tourist peak periods.

no way triple - thats saying 800,000 tourists staying in Malta at the same time - total tourists annually is 1.5m - max tourists at any one time in Malta is probably 200,000 not 800,000

But wouldn't it be correct to say that a huge chunk of those 1.5 million actually visit in summer? I am sure there aren't 200,000 tourists here in February. I think it could be true that more than half of those 1.5 million occur in July and August.

This is just my feeling. Malta is so much nicer in the winter months. Besides being greener, you can actually walk through places like Sliema without feeling like you're at some festival.

As the buses stop along the road at every bus stop designated for that bus number, cash is taken by the bus driver for persons not carrying a  ticket. This process can take up to five minutes at some bus stops depending on the number of people boarding - and would take even longer if all the people waiting at the bus stop could get on - but the bus is often overfull already! Pass by in your car and wave.... If Arriva/Malta could get their heads around an Oyster card style payment process the journey times would probably be cut by half.

rooikat wrote:

As the buses stop along the road at every bus stop designated for that bus number, cash is taken by the bus driver for persons not carrying a  ticket. This process can take up to five minutes at some bus stops depending on the number of people boarding - and would take even longer if all the people waiting at the bus stop could get on - but the bus is often overfull already! Pass by in your car and wave.... If Arriva/Malta could get their heads around an Oyster card style payment process the journey times would probably be cut by half.

Oyster card system is far too advanced for Malta!!

They could employ conductors to sell tickets, reduce unemployment and ensure passenger safety.

Some buses  are dangerously overloaded at peak times.

Why no double decker's?

'Why no double decker's?'
Not sure that I would like to be sitting up there, it's scary enough at ground level in Malta

As for the figures - isnt it also true that the arrivals figures include those arriving on cruise ships who may be in port overnight or just one - or two days.!!!!!!

autonomas wrote:

I think it could be true that more than half of those 1.5 million occur in July and August.

tourist arrivals data say max 250,000 a month (in August), but even taking your figure of 50% of 1.5m = 750,000 - the average tourist spends 10-11 days in Malta, so 750,000 in 2 months/11 days av stay = 135,000 tourists on average at a time in the peak 2 months - allow for some fluctuation, and my 200,000 max at any one time looks about right

toonarmy9752 wrote:

As for the figures - isnt it also true that the arrivals figures include those arriving on cruise ships who may be in port overnight or just one - or two days.!!!!!!

correct, but I believe thats factored in to the average stay of 10-11 days per tourist

Arriva do have a card system called 'Saver Card'.
Provided you have an ID card of course.

http://www.arriva.com.mt/arriva-saver-card?l=1

redmik wrote:

Arriva do have a card system called 'Saver Card'.
Provided you have an ID card of course.

http://www.arriva.com.mt/arriva-saver-card?l=1

or a work contract

Our apartment overlooks a local bus stop on the side of a small park and we have timed some of the delays in the bottleneck of passengers getting onto the bus in peak hours (a time when one would imagine people would have saver cards) The cards would speed up the whole trip but unfortunately it's not happening, we can only watch in sympathy as the last person manages to squeeze onto the bus after 5 minutes or more and about 10 people are left behind waiting for the next one to arrive in 15 minutes time (hopefully)
Getting back to the original question, 'do I need a car in Malta to get to work?' For the sake of sanity, yes!