Transport Minister Terry Lister has been taking a lot of criticism over the problems with the public transport at Dockyard. Not all of it is deserved.A great many people have, perhaps accurately, said that the answer to the shortage of transport is simply to send more buses up there, as if that’s as easy as waving a magic wand.Clearly it is not. Aside from scheduling problems, Mr Lister also has to deal with a reduced budget and he is, apparently, also trying to correct abuses in work patterns, overtime and sick leave which have been going on for years.Having said that, it is also inarguable that in these times, Bermuda has to do everything it can to make our visitors’ holiday experience as seamless and easy as possible. Making people who are here for not much more than 24 or 36 hours wait for buses for 90 minutes is asking for trouble.There also seems to be some confusion over just what is causing bus cancellations, ferry schedule reductions and the restrictions on buses.And there is no doubt that the problem is being exacerbated by the Cabinet’s refusal to take a symbolic pay cut. Bus drivers and other public service workers who are being asked to forego overtime would be more sympathetic if they saw their political masters and mistresses sharing the pain.Still, it may be that the best solution to the current impasse would be to refer the whole question of public transport to a board of inquiry whose recommendations would be binding on the Government and the employees.There could be room for the private sector to take a bigger role in public transport, or for the whole service to be privatised.If the latter occurred, there would have to be licence requirements in terms of how routes must be served, but it seems likely that private services would be more responsive to customer needs than the current service, and it would relieve Government of a large financial burden.As it stands, the Public Transport Department is expected to lose $10 million this year, and has lost between $12 and $14 million in the past.Losses on that scale are not sustainable in the current economic climate, even if some level of subsidy is needed to serve low volume routes. So it would be worth looking at all options for the future of public transport.In fact, Bermuda should be looking at expanding public transport as a means of reducing congestion, improving the environment and giving visitors and residents an affordable and efficient means of getting around the Island.Bermuda has already taken some small steps in the direction of offering private minibus services and the like, but this needs to be looked at more closely and expanded if need be.Clearly it has benefits on more lightly used routes, thus freeing standard buses for the more popular ones. This would go a long way to solving problems like Dockyard when there is short term high demand.