Bermudians need to totally change their way of thinking if the Island's traffic problems are going to be resolved according to a Government expert.

Ministry of Transport consultant Larry Jacobs claims that "mindset changes will be the determining factors on whether or not we will be successful with transportation initiatives''.

Speaking at the Hamilton Rotary Club luncheon this week, Mr. Jacobs outlined a series of new plans which could ease traffic congestion, including a new ferry service, market research to assess public needs and the possibility of a new bus terminal.

But he added that "in order to make improvements we -- all of us -- must have a change of mindset''.

"First we must change our thought process from transportation services that operate independent of each other to services that are more integrated. What that means is that each transport mode be viewed as spokes in a wheel.

"Second, we should move from transportation systems that use little or no market research to one that is market driven. In order to attract the community to public transport, both residents and visitors, we must understand what the customer, or potential customer, wants by way of transportation.

"Third, we, the planners and decision makers, must evolve from a decision making process that makes transportation decisions based on short term considerations to one that makes decisions based on a long term strategy.

"Fourth, and perhaps most importantly of all, is for us to have a mindset shift from a transport environment that operates with a high degree of protectionism to one that operates with a high degree of inclusion and cooperation.

"And the final mindset shift is for all of us to change our way of thinking about Bermuda from rural to urban. We are no longer a low density rural farming community. We are now an urbanised, high density, extremely mobile, sophisticated community and we must think of transport solutions the same as large urbanised areas would.

"How successful we will be in providing meaningful alternatives to the private car remains to be seen but I can tell you that the success will be dependent on you, the residents of this community, by providing us with input, acceptance and ultimately utilisation of the proposals.'' Mr. Jacobs, who has been appointed by the new Government to help develop a National Transportation Management Plan, praised the Island's public transport system but warned that more pressure will be put on the network as the number of vehicles on the roads increases.

And he has already said that the general public must be consulted before any changes to the system are made.

"We have a good supply of transportation on the Island, including taxis, buses, ferries, airport services and livery cycles,'' he said.

"We are examining how to better integrate the existing services that we have and have already had sessions utilising Monitor Company assistance to bring together bus, ferry, taxi, airport, mini-bus and dispatcher personnel in one room to discuss issues on how we can work better together to improve services for the customer. Many current bus and ferry customers wish to see better integration between the traditional public transport services and the mini-bus service and we are in the process of reviewing that.

"Transportation circulation around Hamilton will be reviewed to see how it can be improved. A review of all ferry stops has been conducted and we will be recommending changes to the routing and stopping patterns for the ferry system. Finally, major emphasis will be placed on providing the appropriate fare structure to compliment the transportation improvements.'' TRANSPORTATION TRA TRAFFIC TFC