Policy transfer and the introduction of road pricing in Valletta, Malta

Charging motorists to pay for driving at times and/or in places where there is insufficient capacity to meet the level of demand has long been recognised by transport economists as an efficient way to address traffic congestion. However, only a few locations have actually decided to use this mechanism, with Valletta one of the more recent cities to introduce such a scheme. This paper aims to present a case study of road pricing in Valletta and the role played by policy transfer in its introduction. To do this, it applies data gathered from existing literature, in-depth interviews and direct observation with those involved in the policy development. Experience of road pricing was gained from London, Durham, Edinburgh and Stockholm. One of the major barriers to policy transfer was felt to be the unique geography of the island however international events, local conditions and a political champion driving change were critical factors to the successful implementation of the road pricing scheme. Policy transfer was deemed useful in terms of policy development, relations with stakeholders, scheme design and administrative approaches. This paper concludes by identifying the contributions of the case study of Valletta to the policy transfer literature.

Research highlights
► The Dolowitz and Marsh (2000) model is a good framework to analyze policy transport and how it applied to the Valletta road pricing scheme.
► In terms of policy transfer, the case study highlights the importance of the economic, social, political and ideological contexts of the borrower and lender.
► The locations which are geographically closer to each other might not be the most obvious places to investigate for policy transfer.