Transport Minister Ewart Brown has spent millions upgrading Bermuda's ferries but it will need radical measures to unclog the traffic logjam say the National Trust.

National Trust director Steve Conway said: "There needs to be some incentive to get the ferry."

He suggested they could be made free to help people switch.

"Ferries are the only option. The roads have seized up, you cannot make people take the ferries so you need an incentive.

"You need sufficient parking at the ferry stop, not everybody can walk to it. "There isn't space to do it unless you compulsory purchase houses and knock them down.

"It would be one of the necessities which would have to be addressed but we don't know the answer to it."

National Trust Environmental Committee chairman Bill Holmes said the water is the one great hope for easing Bermuda's chronic commuter problems.

"Realistically if you are looking for great strides to be made it is going to have to be made on the ferry service because the water is the only place we have left with room to operate.

"If you get on (other) public transportation you travel on the same congested roads.

"At least on water you have a chance of keeping to schedule and making it fast.

"Which is why many people are asking to expand the schedule.

"A lot of people in St. George's would love a ferry into Hamilton.

"It needs a massive commitment to the ferries. I don't think it's a half measures problem. You would have to increase ferry stops and increase the hours of operation.

"The ferries have to be made the best choice. They have to address the needs of the commuters but unfortunately a lot of people can't do a nine to five, walk/step commute.

"I don't think we have ever made great strides by making things punitive. The solution is to make using the ferries the most appealing option.

"I see people getting off the boat in St. George's and the trip in itself is a pleasure. Most people say 'I wish I could have taken the ferry but it stopped running' or 'I didn't want to go all the way'."

Department of Transport consultant Larry Jacobs said ferries had been integral to Government's plan had to provide alternatives to cars.

"Four years ago it was an old and beat up ferry service which went to the same old stops serving a niche market of Watford Bridge and Cavello Bay. It didn't really get many people."

Polls and public meetings followed which showed given adequate parking and minibuses people would use the ferries. The result was four new ferries.

The Rockaway ferry now gets around 500 people on the three morning commuter trips, said Mr. Jacobs who enjoy a 20-minute trip to Hamilton.

Parking bays quickly filled up, more were added and a minibus was laid on to pick up passengers. That service now caters to 25 percent of the passengers.

Mr. Jacobs said studies done at Barnes Corner, had logged 1,300 vehicles passing per every peak hour so the Rockaway stop therefore should have taken between ten to 18 percent off this figure.

But he said new traffic was added as a result of economic growth.

"Did it really reduce traffic congestion? It did initially. We had a number of comments over the first six months that indicated there was a noted travel time reduction for people driving.

"We feel Rockaway was a huge success but it's just the start."

Two additional boats arrived this year are set to cut the trip from Cavello Bay, Boaz Island and Watford Bridge once dock work has been done.

"We did test runs from Cavello which were 12 minutes, which is very fast. The current ones take 25 minutes.

"When these boats come on fully sometime in the new year you will see another big push in ridership even though we won't have parking at any of those existing Somerset stops. "There's no room to put parking."

Cabinet approval will be needed for plans to expand the ferry service to the east which has been the subject of petitions calling for it.

"When we get approval to get another ferry boat for St. George's it will have to be the type of boat which that can withstand the north shore in winter.

"It's in our plans to provide commuter service to St. George's with the right boat which can handle commuter service.

"There are potential areas which we don't have enough boats to serve. One is the Waterlot area.

"A survey four of years ago indicated the biggest bang for the buck as far as serving the most amount of people and the most amount of visitor attractions would be parking lot ferry stop in the Jew's Bay, Waterlot area as would St. George's and an intermediate service in the Flatt's area where again you have a high number of commuters.

"You can't put ferry stops everywhere, you must put them where they attract the most potential but we simply don't have enough boats to continue that. You would have to get another four or so if you were really interested in providing a ferry service for all those potential markets." Asked about the National Trust's call for cheaper ferry travel Mr. Jacobs said: "It's certainly economical, certainly compared to the price of fuel today."

Certainly prices are staggered to attract repeat business. A seven-day pass costs $45, a monthly pass $55 and a three-month pass is $135.

"The water offers us the only opportunity to provide comfortable high speed public transport services which can compete with the car," said Mr. Jacobs. "The bus service is excellent, they are comfortable to use but they get stuck in traffic.

"Buses will increasingly be used to feed the ferry stops."

Commuters aren't the only ones clamouring to use the ferries, said Mr. Jacobs.

"A survey we did a couple of years ago found roughly 50 percent of tourists use the ferry service. But at that time the service just did Hamilton to Dockyard. It would be higher now because there are more routes.

Tourists, particularly cruise passengers, like the ferry to switch from Dockyard to St. George's which helps reduce congestion in the middle of the day. "Most people don't know it exists although retired people love it."

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