Locals and visitors alike were again left irate and stranded at the West End as the switch to a new shuttle service continued to hamper transport yesterday.

However, the West End Development Corporation (Wedco) maintained that the new arrangement would prove more efficient — and urged people not to give out “false information” about the switch.

The delays at Dockyard prompted Bermuda Industrial Union president Chris Furbert to tell Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell he was “extremely concerned” over the new partnership between Wedco and the Minibus Association, which had been intended to switch cruise ship visitors over from regular public transport to get to the beaches.

The Royal Gazette encountered long queues at Dockyard, with a local woman repeatedly declaring she’d been stuck for two hours waiting on a bus.

“This is ridiculous, the line they make tourists wait on,” said visitor Lisa, from New Jersey. “And they didn’t notify us when we went to buy the tickets.”

Visitors were continuing to purchase bus passes instead of the $16 vouchers for the round trip by minibus to Horseshoe Bay Beach or Church Bay.

“This is a scam,” said a cruise ship visitor from Montreal. “We want our money back. That’s it. And I don’t think I will be coming back here.”

With the Norwegian Breakaway bringing up to 4,000 passengers to Dockyard, along with the Celebrity Summitt and its projected 2,181 on board, the uneasy transition from bus to minibus was especially pronounced.

Mr Furbert said the BIU had been neither consulted nor informed about the change. Many union members only learned of when it came into effect on Monday.

A press release was sent out on July 30 but went largely unnoticed because of the Cup Match holiday.

The union head included a letter, dated Tuesday and marked “urgent”, from Kathy Landy, the divisional president of the bus operators division, who called for quick action in resolving the “chaos” with the arrival of the two cruise ships.

Ms Landy said bus drivers on Monday had noticed “extra long lines of tourists” who had bought $25 bus passes instead of the $16 vouchers for the round trip to Horseshoe Bay Beach.

Operators leaving from Dockyard’s National Museum of Bermuda encountered long lines, she said, and had to leave with full buses from the first stop.

“Wedco management did not consider the choices of visitors — thus the locals are being deprived of transportation to Hamilton for hours,” Ms Landy wrote.

“Some have travelled to the Dockyard on the bus to catch a bus or ferry to Hamilton. Operators reaching Horseshoe Bay via Hamilton were bombarded with tourists seeking to travel to the ferry terminal to get back to their ship in Dockyard.”

Despite the new arrangement, which Wedco general manager Andrew Dias said would be able to transport hundreds of visitors at a time, the bus operators’ division head said the large influx of cruise ship visitors couldn’t be accommodated by mini buses alone.

Monday’s queues, she said, “proved that there was a shortage of transportation for tourists and locals”.

However, Mr Dias likened the Dockyard bottleneck to “if everyone turned up at JFK Airport in New York didn’t use taxis or shuttles, but just went to the subway”.

“When we realised there were visitors over by the Maritime Museum who had been waiting for an hour, we sent the minibuses around the corner and told them to honour the bus passes,” he added.

“We moved over 300 passengers. It’s not perfect, but we don’t want to see anybody waiting for an hour plus for transport, and we apologise for that.”

Asked if there was a shortage, Mr Dias said the minibuses could provide enough — but visitors needed to know they were available, and where.

“At the end of the day, we will get it right and get it better. We need everyone not to pass on false information — I’ve heard people giving out 100 different prices, and a lot of people making comments on the ground that are not correct.

“Basically, the long and the short of it is that people have been walking out to the transportation area by the Maritime Museum to use tokens or passes to catch the regular bus. Some of these are repeat visitors who are used to the old system.”

The switch will free up ten public buses for use as regular transport, he said, and would result in shuttles serving the beaches at regular intervals. Others might choose to use taxis, he added.

“It really boils down to choice. What would be helpful would be if people disseminated the right information.”