This chapter focuses on regional land and sea transport statistics. The first section deals with road transport statistics covering rate of motorization, stock of licensed vehicles, road traffic accidents and contraventions. The section related to sea transport statistics starts with information on fishing vessels and concludes with inter-island statistics on passenger and vehicle movements aboard trips operated by Gozo Channel Co. Ltd and the fast ferry service.
Salient Points
Road Transport
Licences: 2024
… licensed vehicles in MALTA amounted to 445,711 with largest proportion recorded in the Northern Harbour district (25.1 per cent).
… passenger cars accounted for 74.1 per cent of total licensed vehicles.
… driving licence holders amounted to 285,132, an increase of 2.6 per cent over 2023. The Northern Harbour district registered the largest number (25.8 per cent). Gozo and Comino district accounted for 9.7 per cent of the total.
Transport Indicators: 2024
… as at end of 2024, the number of vehicles to 1,000 driving licence holders stood at 1,563. Gozo and Comino district registered the highest ratio of vehicles, 1,131 per 1,000 total residents, while the Northern Harbour district registered the lowest ratio with 611 vehicles per 1,000 residents.
… in 2024, the average age of passenger cars in MALTA stood at 16.05 years. The Southern Harbour district had the highest average age of passenger cars, 17.49 years, followed by the Gozo and Comino district, 17.05 years.
… in 2024, the number of public transport commuters totalled 75,773,333, with just 4.2 per cent of public transport commuters pertaining to Gozo and Comino region.
Traffic accidents: 2024
… reported traffic accidents increased by 1.2 per cent over 2023 with 34.2 per cent of total accidents recorded in the Northern Harbour district. Gozo and Comino district had the lowest registered accidents, 1,005 cases.
… Birkirkara was the locality with the highest rate of traffic accidents, with 1,050 cases, followed by Ħal Qormi and San Pawl Il-Baħar.
Contraventions: 2024
… traffic-related contraventions issued by Police increased by 0.6 per cent from 2023, while those issued by Wardens decreased by 11.9 per cent.
… San Pawl il-Baħar recorded the highest number of contraventions issued by Wardens, totalling 16,044, whereas San Ġiljan had the highest count of contraventions issued by Transport Malta, amounting to 1,438.
… speed camera contraventions totalled 43,761. The camera which caught the most over-speeding vehicles was the one installed in Triq Dun Karm, Birkirkara, totalling 7,810 contraventions.
Sea Transport
Stock of fishing vessels: 2024
… stock of fishing vessels stood at 2,746 with MPVs comprising the largest proportion, 43.8 per cent. The largest share of fishing vessels was registered in the South Eastern district, 28.0 per cent. Fishing vessels registered in the Gozo and Comino district amounted to 21.8 per cent.
Sea transport between Malta and Gozo: 2024
… passengers and vehicles travelling between Malta and Gozo increased by 15.0 and 5.2 per cent respectively when compared to 2023.
… passenger traffic originating from Ċirkewwa was busiest on Fridays and Saturdays, whereas highest numbers from Mġarr were recorded on Sundays and Saturdays.
… August registered the highest number of trips between Mġarr and Valletta – 977 or 10.6 per cent of total trips between Mġarr and Valletta for 2024 – and the highest number of passengers between Mġarr and Valletta – 120,220 or 12.3 per cent of total passengers between Mġarr and Valletta for 2024.
