Seniors with no transport will benefit from a new system picking them up and taking them to and from hospital.

Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler yesterday said Government was teaming up with Age Concern for a dispatch project to help the 1,600 elders who are unable to use public transport or their own vehicles.

Mr. Butler told the Throne Speech press conference: "If you were to leave here and make a telephone call on behalf of a senior or a disabled person who lived in Somerset, and you wished to get them to a doctor or weren't able to do it yourself, we currently have a problem providing adequate transportation to take that senior to a hospital or to a facility."

The Minister said a recent study showed 20 percent of Bermuda's 8,270 seniors were unable to use mainstream transportation.

He said a partnership between Government, the private sector and a third party was developing the system to fill the gap.