Government MP Mr. Rick Spurling is hopeful that early morning bus service to St. David's will be started on a trial basis in the spring.

He made his remarks after a meeting on Monday night attended by about 20 St.

David's residents, Transport Minister the Hon. Maxwell Burgess, and Public Transportation Board director Mr. Herman Basden.

"I think something will come of it,'' Mr. Spurling told The Royal Gazette .

"There was a lot of feeling at the meeting that there was a considerable demand for something prior to 7.15 (a.m.).

"I hope the Minister and Mr. Basden will agree that we should run a trial.'' There was also support for an evening bus service, but it was not as strong as support for the morning service, Mr. Spurling said.

At the meeting held at the Black Horse Tavern, St. David's residents were told their area did not fare well in a ridership survey recently completed by the PTB.

While it takes an average of 20 passengers per trip for a bus route to break even, Government is willing to subsidise the service by the equivalent of 12 passengers per trip, Mr. Spurling said. So an average of eight passengers per trip is the minimum for a viable route.

The survey showed that St. David's was averaging eight passengers per trip on Saturday, but only five on Sunday. On weekdays, St. David's averaged 10 passengers per trip, he said.

Ridership to St. David's is "not on the high side, however, there is still evidence there is demand early in the morning, prior to 7.15,'' the St.

George's South United Bermuda Party MP said.

Government wants to guarantee service to all areas between 7.15 a.m. and 6.15 p.m., he said. Outside of those areas, demand must be demonstrated.

He was hopeful that St. David's could be given a month's notice before a 6.45 a.m. bus was experimented with starting in the spring.

A mini-bus service was seen as a solution, but Mr. Basden said such a service did not fit within the PTB and should be offered privately. "I don't know how viable that is,'' Mr. Spurling said.

Mr. Basden told the meeting that while local ridership is dropping on the buses, ridership by visitors is on the increase.

The PTB director said there were about 50,000 vehicles in Bermuda.

Manhattan, with about the same land area, has 200,000 vehicles, he said.