best to ease congestion on the roads. Government says it wants to encourage people to use public transportation, yet it increases the fares. That makes very little sense.

True, people over 65 will now ride free starting in April. That is welcome but it is not likely to ease congestion on the roads very much.

We should be looking at innovative ways to encourage residents and visitors alike to use the ferry and take the bus. Increasing fares just does not fit that philosophy, nor does a last ferry to Somerset which leaves Hamilton at 5:20 p.m. forcing people to run from work and stranding those who work until 5:30 p.m.

As Shadow Minister of Transport Dennis Lister has said, new increases will not encourage people to park their vehicles and ride a bus or ferry. It may be, as Transport Minister Wayne Furbert has been quoted as saying, that Bermuda's bus fares are competitive with competing destinations like the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. However, that is not the point. Bermuda has special problems and we need to worry about solving those problems and not about what a bus ride costs in the Bahamas.

The Minister of Tourism recognises that transportation is one of the main problems facing Bermuda. We have to find ways to move people around easily and inexpensively. Good transportation is part of an enjoyable vacation.

There was a time when visitors could rent a moped and set off to sightsee and enjoy Bermuda. It was convenient and relatively inexpensive and provided a good deal of freedom to explore these Islands. It was an enjoyable experience.

It is no longer possible to have an enjoyable experience on Bermuda's roads and mopeds are now dangerous for visitors who are not used to these roads, to the left side of the road or to the motorised cycles. Mopeds are no longer enjoyable and Bermuda needs a substitute.

Bermuda must begin now to work on innovative transportation because it is a large part of a vacation. We can no longer assume that visitors will "somehow or other'' find their way around Bermuda. More and more they are staying in their hotels and missing out on the attractions and the enjoyment Bermuda has to offer. They then say that Bermuda does not offer enough.

People providing evening entertainment complain that visitors do not come or do not come in sufficient numbers to make the entertainment lucrative. The truth is that they might like to be there but either can't get there short of taking an expensive taxi or do not know how to get there.

We should start by taking a hard look at how other resorts move people about.

There are lessons to be learned and there are places which are doing quite well with transportation which is relatively inexpensive, convenient and environmentally friendly. Right now Bermuda seems to be moving backwards.