The road into the next century will be a rocky one unless Bermuda's public transport system is brought into the modern age.

It is something both political parties agree on.

And both believe they are on the right track to solving the Island's transport ills, with each claiming the other's policies are in a jam.

Both want an integrated transportation system, with buses feeding ferries, more minibuses and taxis combining to offer a better service.

Both want to cut the number of cars clogging up Bermuda's roads without levying extra taxes on licences or gas.

Both say the only way to cut the number of road deaths -- 14 already this year -- is to improve traffic safety education programmes in schools.

And both have coined their policies from the Government-commissioned Transportation 2000 document.

At least that's according to Transport Minister Erwin Adderley, who claims the PLP's platform is lifted from the document his Government predecessors spent more than a year producing.

As for his opposite number, Shadow Transport Minister Dennis Lister, that's a bit of a rich statement.

He says Opposition transport spokesmen have called for an integrated transport plan "for years''.

The ideas in the Transportation 2000 document are nothing more than a PLP blueprint, he says.

And the insurance executive accuses Government of stealing one of the Opposition's brightest ideas -- freeing up insurance laws so that anyone with a policy can drive someone else's car.

So it's all a bit confusing to the voters, perhaps. Both sides have the same ideas.

But both sides stole their ideas from each other. And both sides would be better at implementing their ideas. What a choice on November 9.

It's summed up by what Mr. Lister says. "When I hear that comment from Mr.

Adderley about insurance, I smile.

"That highlights a lot of what's been said from the PLP over the years.

"I also smile when I hear the Minister talking about the similarities in the Transportation 2000 plan and our policies. We were the first proponents of that plan.'' He says that explains the similarities in manifesto approaches to transport solutions.

But Mr. Lister accuses Government of "missing the boat'' by overlooking an opportunity to build a car park at Somerset Bridge ferry stop using boulders from the nearby temporary causeway, now dismantled.

Both Mr. Lister and Mr. Adderley are transport-conscious when they travel into work.

The Minister takes his bike. The Shadow Minister takes the bus or ferry.

And Mr. Adderley wants buses, ferries and maybe even minibuses and taxis to come under one single fare for people using single travel passes.

It is a scheme which could be adopted with the help of hotels, he adds, saying that some of Europe's top tourist attractions offer inclusive rates for local travel.

But Mr. Lister is sceptical. "It could be workable for tourists,'' he says.

"But how would it benefit the locals unless there was a single fare for all.

We'd need to know more about that particular proposal.'' His idea for reducing the death toll on Bermuda's roads, like the Ministers, rests on better education.

But for the Shadow Minister, that should mean lessons at a very early age -- even in primary school.

And efforts to stop the scourge of drink-driving could even include making pubs more responsible for their customers and stopping them leaving bars drunk and then getting in their cars.

"In the US, it is an offence to have an open alcohol container even in the passenger seat,'' he says.

"We also need to consider that type of law here. This is a community problem.

"But this election won't boil down to just one particular issue. It's boiling down to the overall management and running of the country.

"The outgoing Government has demonstrated that it's beyond their ability.'' Not surprisingly, that's disputed by the Transport Minister.

"We have been working on our transport strategy for a long period of time and a lot of the ideas in Transportation 2000 had simply evolved as policies,'' he says.

"In terms of road space per car, I think we are second in the world only to Hong Kong.

"We know that if you want people to leave their cars at home, there has to be a convenient alternative. That means building an integrated system.

"We recognise that there are problems. But we have now put in place the components of a successful system.

"Also, I was Director of Planning for 22 years. And in coming up with a Development Plan for the Island, you manage to find the best ideas and form a consensus which is right for most people.

"Now we're trying to get all the transport operators to pull together. We also want to get the hoteliers on board for the single fare idea.

"And we must remember that there's always the possibility there could be even more cars on our roads.

"We allow one per household and we have 13,000 residential units and 11,000 cars.'' He describes it as "imperative'' that young people are educated to be safer on our roads.

"We send out the drink-drive campaigns but it still doesn't seem to get through to a significant number of people,'' he says.

"It only makes the issue of transport more vital, especially when we set it against where we are going in our future.'' Erwin Adderley Dennis Lister