Nine in ten cars only carry one person

INDIVIDUALISM is the driving force behind the nation’s commuting habits, with 90 per cent of Nicosia’s vehicles carrying only one person, says an ongoing study for resolving the island’s traffic gridlock.

There were 444,000 vehicles registered in Cyprus last year, making fifth in the world for number of cars per head.

According to a civil engineer who carried out the study in Nicosia, the two most congested municipalities in the district are Nicosia and Strovolos, Phileleftheros reported yesterday.

On Thursday, the Minister of Communications and Works noted that in Cyprus, only 2.5 to 4 per cent of the population used public transport compared to about 55 per cent in Europe.

The study has found that to solve the island’s traffic problem you have to limit the use of private vehicles, so it will be necessary to introduce mini buses and teach Cypriots to change their commuting habits.

The civil engineering study of the capital recommended that it was imperative to solve the problem of illegal parking on the streets. A possible solution would be to abolish some traffic lights, since many traffic lights result in many stops for motorists, which breaks up the constant flow of traffic. It added that there was a problem with right turns, with cars causing congestion as they waited to cross oncoming traffic.

The measures examined in the study are to be implemented by the year 2010.

One of the solutions would be to set up a tram line, but according to initial research, this would be too expensive. Furthermore, Nicosia mayor Lellos Demetriades reported earlier this month that initial studies by the Communications Ministry suggested a lack of public interest for such a plan, which would cost an estimated at five million pounds a kilometre. The tram feasibility study is expected to be completed by October.

Trams have the benefit of being completely emission-free and could be powered by electricity produced from the sun or wind with six times less energy use per passenger than with a car.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.