Bill proposes measures to ease traffic congestion

A new bill proposes five key measures to ease traffic congestion and concerns management of obstruction in school zones, staggered working hours, the publication of traffic flow indicators and state responsibility for creating a holistic plan.

“A comprehensive, realistic and fair approach is needed that will not burden the citizen. This proposal aims to change the mentality of travel and upgrade our quality of life,” Disy MP Fotini Tsiridou, who submitted the bill on Monday, said.

The road network decongestion and sustainable mobility law aims to reach a performance target of 20 per cent reduction in peak-time travel in key road axes, a 25 per cent increase in public transport use and a 50 per cent reduction in parking violations in bus lanes and flow zones.

Philenews reported that the bill sees the establishment of traffic management centres (TMCs) for each district which will fall under the transport ministry.

TMCs will be responsible for coordinating traffic lights and smooth traffic flow, monitoring priority lanes for buses and multi-passenger vehicles, managing towing and road incidents, as well as publishing monthly data on delays and emissions.

In addition to that, the bill aims to expand and protect public transport priority lanes, as well as the creation of multiple passenger travel lanes for cars in which at least three people are travelling.

Each district will be called to designate at least three ‘flow zones’, where stopping or parking a car will be prohibited from 7am to 7pm. Vehicles that violate this will be towed within ten minutes at no cost to the driver, based on the approved safety and transparency protocol.

When it comes to school zones and student safety, the bill proposes the creation of 200m school zones around each institution, where during student arrival and departure times will only be accessible by school buses, parents, residents and emergency vehicles. Supervision of the zones will be the responsibility of the police and municipal authorities.

A different measure suggests the institutionalisation of working hour distribution in the public sector across three zones – 7am to 3pm, 8am to 4pm and 9am to 5pm – to reduce simultaneous traffic.

Part of that measure sees that private companies with more than 50 employees will be required submit a mobility plan, which will include staggered hours or teleworking for at least one day per week for 20 per cent of staff.

Transparency and public access to data is a significant part of the proposed bill, with the launch of the ‘Open Cyprus Traffic System,’ which will publish monthly delays, emissions and violations. Acquiring access will be free of cost for all users, without the processing or publication of personal data.

The bill will be funded by the traffic management fund, to which resources will be provided from the recovery and resilience fund, the European cohesion fund and the transport ministry.