Not terrible is how chief executive officer of the Bermuda Land Management Corporation describes the transport situation in Dockyard this tourism season.

After long lines at the cruise ship pier angered visitors last year, the BLMC implemented a permit system this year for taxis, minibuses and anyone entering the transport hub in the West End.

“We have issued around 600 permits this year,” Andrew Dias said. The permits implemented standards for taxi drivers and minibus operators, such as a code of conduct, and also required tour operators to take an approved ambassador course.

“We have done a reasonably good job of managing the situation,” Mr Dias added. “Hopefully, taxis and minibuses made a reasonable living. Now, we are getting into hurricane season and will miss two or three ships. It becomes more challenging at this time of year.”

He said transport in Dockyard could be tricky.

“We don’t know the occupancy of a ship before it arrives,” he said. “Today we had a ship come in with 5,000 to 6,000 people. It only stayed for four or five hours. That was a lot of people to move in a short amount of time.”

People in the transport industry also think the situation is better.

Veteran taxi driver Calvin Dill told The Royal Gazette: “I have more clients in town but when I do get up to Dockyard, I do not see any long delays or lines of people.”

He did notice them last year.

“Taxis are moving smoothly now,” Mr Dill said.

Dante Durham, of Smooth N’ Easy Transport, took the Bermuda Tourism Authority’s certified tourism ambassador programme to get his permit.

“It was pretty easy,” he said. “I also did another course.”

He drives taxis and minibuses and does tours with groups of anywhere from ten to 100 people.

Although he sees just as many minibuses and taxis as ever, he thought things were more controlled in Dockyard this year.

“I do not think the new rules have hindered transportation,” Mr Durham said.

However, he would like to see minibuses promoted more so that cruise passengers know their options better.

A fellow minibus driver who did not wish to be named said that while the overall chaos had died down, the minibus situation was still being run in a cut-throat and confusing manner.

“If you don’t have a tour pre-arranged, many minibus operators get into the general line, and it is first come, first served,” he said.

“As a result many minibus drivers get into the line around midnight or 1am and sleep in their buses until the day starts. They want to be at the head of the queue in the morning. If you go up to Dockyard around midnight when the ships are in, you will see a long line of ten to 15 minibuses waiting for the next day.”

He said the trouble comes for singles or couples getting off the ships. Couples can find themselves sitting on a minibus anywhere from five minutes to 25 minutes, waiting for the vehicle to fill up.

“A lot of times they really do not know they can get a ferry or a public bus,” he said. “A lot of minibus drivers would rather take a group to Horseshoe Bay, than go all the way to St George’s.”

The minibus driver thought more organisation was needed to get the right clients into the right minibuses.

“That would get the buses filled up and leaving more quickly,” he said. “Dockyard is over saturated with minibuses. Taxis are fine. They just come in and out.”

He said there was a time he slept in his minibus on the Dockyard pier but now he relied on tours prearranged by a booking agent.

“The cruise line takes a percentage of our tours but we still make a decent amount per head,” the source said.

Mr Durham was also focusing more on prearranged work.

“Business has been coming in steadily,” he said. “I was away at Cup Match and people were still calling me for transportation. The business is definitely there.”