Nobody need tell Public Transport Board director Dan Simmons about the problems caused by congestion.

Daily his staff battle the fall-out caused by buses stuck in painfully slow traffic.

PTB has 106 buses of which more than 80 will be in service at peak hours. But while the buses get more luxurious they can only ever be as fast at the vehicle in front, which on commuter mornings is not very fast at all.

"Congestion is frustration for every driver and it wreaks havoc with our schedule," said Mr. Simmons. "If a bus is due to come into central terminal and go out again but is caught up in a traffic our guys will sub a bus."

He said the Somerset bus due in for 8.45 a.m. was almost always subbed in order not to disappoint those expecting the follow-on service in Spanish Point.

"The trips out of the West End from 7.30 to about 8.45 all get caught up in traffic and are all late, sometimes 15-20 minutes late, because of traffic ? and worse when it rains.

"When it rains, those folks who are riding bikes jump in the car. That really clogs up the works. Everyone is going slower."

It's a far cry from the days before he joined PTB nearly two decades ago when he could leave work at a Hamilton bank at 5 p.m. and walk to his car several blocks away and drive to his St. David's home to arrive at 5.30 p.m. "Traffic flowed out of town. That's not the case now and hasn't been for years."

Buses are highly utilised as commuting devices but had no special rights of way, unlike other countries, said Mr. Simmons.

He notes Hamilton has two lanes of in-bound traffic in the mornings and two lanes outbound in the evening so bus lanes are not an impossibility although it cause carnage with real estate elsewhere.

"It's not un-doable. We have to think outside the box."

This is a key theme with Mr. Simmons.

"To make it work there has to be a level of frustration where everybody is on board that something has to be done. When you discuss the issue, people focus on solutions.

"I don't think the standard solutions applied elsewhere can be applied where people say 'here is the one'. It has to be a multiplicity of fixes.

"There has to be some telecommuting, some dispersion of business, some dispersion of work hours. Strangely enough if that is done the real problem evaporates."

Despite his job Mr. Simmons does not downplay the appeal of the automobile.

"Many Bermudians are like Americans ? in love with their car. It has benefits. You have quiet, you can make it warmer or colder, play the music you want. You can stop and shop on the way.

"If we are going to get people out of their cars we have to make the journey more convenient."

He said Bermuda didn't have the problems of New York or Hong Kong but expectations were higher here.

"Waterborne transit has a part to play. It has been historically under-utilised. It is still under-utilised although its growing."

But he said it currently couldn't cope with the thousands of cruise ship visitors to the beach.

He suggested ferry terminals out of Hamilton could offer laundry drop-off and other retail opportunities to increase the attractions for commuters aiming to get several things done at the same time.

Water taxis could help although not in foul weather while minibuses can add to labour costs without bringing that many people.

"But in some situations minibuses makes sense."

He said a trial in narrow roads in the Spice Valley area to feed the main bus routes earlier this year had quickly proved very popular.

Before long people were asking for it to hook up with the ferry on Harbour Road.

"There's a place for minibuses but as an auxiliary to mass transit." Government recently pledged to boost minibus services in the Throne Speech.

Mr. Simmons said improved lift was needed for Dockyard for the new generation of mega cruise ships.

"We may need more ferries. There is only one artery coming out of Dockyard. Any natural disaster or significant accident clogs the whole machinery." Railway Trails should be kept open for temporary bypasses around blockages, suggested Mr Simmons.

But he is not surprised the route didn't work for its original purpose. "The railway didn't work from an economic standpoint because it couldn't service enough people. It was mostly on the north side so the poor buggers on the south side had to hump for a mile to get to the train. If you had groceries or furniture what was the point?

"The folk who brought railway to Bermuda were not looking at it from an economic point of view. They didn't do their due diligence."

In Brazil buses acted like a train said Mr. Simmons which provided the benefits of light rail without the huge infrastructure cost. But it required a bus lane to work. "I don't think it's an insurmountable problem but it will require some thinking outside the box."

He said Hamilton was under-utilised compared to European cities with the emphasis on nine to five damaging its appeal as well as worsening traffic problems. "For some strange reason we are trying to cram all the activities of the day into an eight-hour day. It's dead in the morning before people open their business and it's dead in the evening.

"But the whole world has changed around us but we haven't got hold of that yet."

Retailers needed to operate when people wanted to shop said Mr. Simmons but this jibed against the national character of resistance to change.

"We might as well as get on board with that. If we are going to continue to bring in cruise ships and close the retail establishments at 5 o'clock we will be known as a dud place to go.

"I am not saying we have to turn it into Reno and Las Vegas, that's not it at all.

"But we have to give the locals and visitors some options and by spreading the activity of the day you also reduce the congestion at specific hours in the morning or afternoon.

"Some jurisdictions have changed school hours. Let's think about that ? that's a viable alternative. It would be helpful."

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