Bermuda needs to provide visitors with an alternative form of independent transport other than rental scooters, a road safety chief claimed last night.

Just four days after Government ruled out the option of visitors hiring two-seater micro cars in the foreseeable future, chairman of the Road Safety Council Dr. Joseph Froncioni said, in his opinion, tourists should have another choice besides rental scooters.

He said even with the proposed additional training for holidaymakers who hire bikes, people will continue to injure themselves on the Island's roads.

Dr. Froncioni said: “We have to do something about the transportation of tourists. The solution may lie in alternative forms of transport, that is my opinion.

“I don't think increased training (on rental bikes) is the answer. I think the answer is a safer form of transport.

The Ministry of Transport has produced 120 proposals to ease traffic congestion and get people out of their cars and onto public transport.

Among them are a number of suggestions to improve both the options and standards of transport for visitors coming to the Island.

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said a number of tourists were quizzed on the issue, and 54 percent of visitors said they did not hire scooters because of safety concerns. They said improved training would assist, but also cited traffic congestion and poor driving in general as major worries. As a result, it has been proposed that the Transport Control Department, Bermuda Police, the Road Safety Council and the cycle industry review the current training procedures and make recommendations for improving training for visitors. A suggestion to allow tourists to hire small, two-seater cars was deemed to have too many disadvantages, including adding to traffic congestion and leading to fewer people using public transport.

But last night, Dr. Froncioni, while not wanting to comment on the report, said he believed additional training on bikes would not help.

“Motorcycles are inherently dangerous, especially for someone who is unfamiliar with a two-wheeled bike and unfamiliar with Bermuda roads,” he said.

“I think at some point, Government will have to convene a task force to look at alternatives. We are going to have to get away from motorbikes and look at something different and safer.”

Dr. Froncioni said he believed, in the next ten years, Bermuda would see a change.

He added: “There are all kinds of small urban vehicles. Cities are looking at different ways to get people around - non-polluting, small, functional vehicles that get people around short distances. I think they would apply very well to Bermuda because we travel short distances.”

Dr. Froncioni said proposals to vastly improve public transport in Bermuda, including a revamp of the ferries and buses, and the provision of minibus services, would greatly help.

Last night, general manager of Oleander Cycles Geoffrey Gibbons said he did not think additional training for tourists would change anything because he believed that most of the visitor concerns were centred around other road-users.

And he said the training provided now was adequate.

But he agreed with Dr. Froncioni's comments about providing an alternative mode of independent transport for tourists.

He said last year, Oleander brought two micro cars onto the Island, which were available in either two-seater or four-seater, but had them turned down for licensing by the Ministry of Transport.

Mr. Gibbons said he believed they would have been ideal for tourists, and said many locals would have used them too, resulting in smaller vehicles being on the road.

At only four foot wide and eight foot long, he said they would have been a perfect solution for reducing traffic in Bermuda.

Mr. Gibbons said he had no idea why the Ministry had refused to permit the vehicles, but said he was very disappointed to hear they had also been ruled out of the Ministry of Transport's future plan for travel in Bermuda.

He said: “Oleander has supplied an alternative form of transport and it was turned down.

“It has been approved in Europe and is in use in many countries, but Bermuda turned it down for some reason, and I have no idea why.

“The expense of them is the stumbling block, but I believe that if you offer tax incentives to people, as they have in Europe, they will buy them instead of other, bigger cars. It would ultimately reduce traffic. And, the only people allowed to drive them would be people who held a driving licence, anyway.

“I don't think we will ever replace bikes, and I'm certainly not advocating that, but we have to provide an alternative.

“I was very disappointed when I heard that these restrictions on tourists hiring cars should be continued.”

Dr. Brown was not available for comment last night.