the end of this week.

The posts were declared vacant last year as a part of the Education Ministry's restructuring plans.

At that time this sparked concerns that the Education Department and principals would take advantage of the situation to displace staff they did not like.

But education officials assured teachers that this would not be the case.

And education's senior manager of human resources Raymond Latter told The Royal Gazette the Ministry was keeping its promise.

"We've given a commitment that no one will lose their livelihood and that will still stand,'' he said. "There will be changes and some people may not get what they want. But no one will lose their livelihood.'' Mr. Latter added that the Ministry hoped to have all of the staff selection completed this Friday.

He further explained that the Human Resource team will contact teachers who applied and were selected for more than one post to find out their choice.

"Basically the process is moving steadily,'' Mr. Latter said. "I would imagine that about three quarters of the positions are already filled. I'm still hopeful that we will have everything in place on time.'' Despite the change from primary and secondary to primary, middle and senior secondary, Mr. Latter said the number of staff in the public school system will virtually remain the same, at 685. This includes principals, teachers, teacher assistants, and counsellors.

IT'S STILL `CHEAPER' TO RIDE THAN DRIVE, SAYS BASDEN TRA It's still `cheaper' to ride than drive, says Basden Bus and ferry boss Herman Basden has claimed it's still cheaper to ride than drive -- even after Budget fare hikes.

Mr. Basden went into top gear after a commuter wrote to The Royal Gazette claiming there was no incentive to use public transportation following the rise in the cost of bus and ferry travel. The fed-up traveller said the change meant 15 tokens for travel on the Hamilton-Paget-Warwick ferry and the zone three bus service area now cost $15.

He added: "It now costs me $2 to get to work and back home again. If I drive my car to town, Bulls Head parking lot costs $2 a day to park.'' "I thought Government didn't want everyone to drive into Hamilton....Where is my incentive to use public transportation?'' But Mr. Basden, director of the Public Transportation Board, said that the use of passes cut the cost of commuting.

And he insisted that the comparison the man made between driving to work and using public transit was flawed.

Mr. Basden said: "Bus passes are much cheaper -- a monthly bus pass is $40.

But tokens are usually used by the visitors and the occasional riders.

"Locals use the passes. So if you want to make a fair comparison you must use the category the locals use.'' And he added: "There are more costs to driving to work than just parking. You have to take into account fuel, car maintenance and licensing.

"When you work it all out, it still works out cheaper to use public transportation.''