It is not entirely easy for a layman to understand just what the dispute between Government and the Bermuda Industrial Union over a new bus schedule is about.

Neither side has gone into enormous detail on just how the service will change, or just how much the drivers are apparently being asked to give up.

But it would appear that this is part of Government?s effort to improve public transport to make it both more accessible to users and to run buses later at night.

That serves two purposes. It gives people a reasonably cheap mode of transport that they can use to get to work, play and home. In some cases, these are people who have no transport of their own due to age, disability or cost. In other cases, people may just want to avoid the aggravation and risks of driving cars and bikes, finding parking places and the like.

The advantage to the community is that an efficient, comprehensive and affordable public transport system will reduce congestion and pressure for parking.

One would hope that the union would understand and support this idea. After all, many union members themselves are dependent on public transport and would welcome an improved service.

There seems to be two reasons for the union?s opposition. One concerns a reduction in the number of breaks that drivers have between services. Clearly, drivers need to have some rest, if only so that they do not put their passengers, other vehicles and themselves at risk through tiredness.

It must be said that few of the bus routes in Bermuda are that long or onerous, but a balance needs to be struck.

The other issue concerns drivers being required to work more Sundays than they were previously accustomed to, presumably because the PTB wants to increase the frequency of service on Sundays.

Here it is hard to have as much sympathy. The bus service is by necessity a seven day a week operation. If there is demand from the customer (who pays the fares and subsidises the service) then one would expect the drivers to meet the demand.

Presumably since the drivers are unionised, they would be paid a premium for working on Sunday. And it must also be assumed that the shift patterns are such that they are not being asked to work more hours in the course of a week.

Because so little information is being given out, some or all of the above may be wrong. But it has to be assumed that a ?labour government? is not out to exploit its own workers.

What it is doing, rightly, is trying to improve service to the public and for that, it deserves support.

If the drivers are not willing to compromise, the alternative for the Government is to expand the provision of private minibus services for areas that are not served by the PTB and for off-peak hours at night, on holidays and on weekends.

The guess here is that there are plenty of young entrepreneurs who would bid on tenders for these kinds of services. Fares and safety issues would clearly have to be regulated by the Government, and in some cases, as happens now, a temporary subsidy offered.

Even then, the service would probably need up being cheaper to the taxpayer than PTB. And bus drivers should then be aware that if it was a success, they might be taking much longer breaks than they expected.