Bus and ferries prices are going up, but Transport Minister Ewart Brown yesterday justified the hike because there has been no rise for three years while the quality of the service has improved.

Yesterday's budget saw the price of car licences also go up by five percent.

The price of a child's cash fare doubles from April 1 to $2; a child's ticket for 15 trips goes from $7 to $7.50; a school pass is up from $40 to $45; a 14 zone adult ticket goes from $25.50 to $30; a three zone adult ticket is up from $16 to $20; an adult pass for 40 trips goes from $45 to $55; and an adult 90 day pass increases from $120 to $135.

An adult seven day pass is raised from $36 to $45; a three day pass goes from $23 to $28; and a one day pass jumps from $11 to $12.

The budget saw $2.1 million set aside for new buses, and the final $930,000 paid for the last two fast ferries, Tempest and Venturilla.

Dr. Brown's budget fell from $57,912,000 for 2003/04 to $56,812,000 for 2004/05, but he said he was happy with the allocation because there were other Government priorities this year.

But there were other improvements to the transport infrastructure which came out of the Works and Engineering budget.

West End Development Corporation has been given $5 million for repairs to King's Wharf caused by Hurricane Fabian, and $3 million will be used for ferry and landing improvements.

Government has set aside $1.1 million for repairing floor coverings at the Airport which were damaged during Fabian.

The Airport is also to get a $1.6 million S-Band Doppler weather radar system.

Motorists will be able to make online appointments for driving tests and vehicle inspections at the Transport Control Department.

And vehicle insurance transfers can also be carried out online. Also, when customers renew their insurance at an insurer's office they will not have to take their insurance details to TCD licence or re-licence their vehicles.

In the budget, Finance Minister Paula Cox said the five percent car licence increase was "an incentive to choose public transportation over private vehicles and thereby reduce vehicle congestion on the roads".

But Dr Brown insisted the licence increase was not supposed to be a deterrent to using cars.

"Everything went up. The idea was not to raise the price of the car licence to force people to use public transportation. No one is saying it is a deterrent," he said.

"We haven't raised the prices on buses or ferries for three years, and the same with car licences.

"Before we (the PLP) came in, there was a 2.5 percent increase on car licences every year - it was traditional. If you do the math, it should be 7.5 percent, but we are increasing by five percent.

"We've increased the price on the ferries, but we've had a doubling of quality. Before, we had new luxury ferries but we never increased the price. The new buses are more comfortable, air conditioned and they can lower down to allow people to step up.

"When you start getting improvements like that, it is reasonable to expect an increase."