Time to get serious

The following letter was copied to Premier and Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown and Jamahl Simmons, Shadow Transport Minister

November 15, 2006

Dear Sir,

I?ve been meaning to write this memo for years, for I returned to the Island some time ago an enthusiastic user of HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes and believe the concept could be applied here with success. In addition, a number of other suggestions to improve our congestion and traffic problems come to mind that I?d like to share. The problems didn?t surface overnight. And they?re not going to go away overnight or without some paradigm shifts and adjustments - perhaps grumbling - from most of us. If we think the problems are serious, it?s time to get serious about the solutions. Here are some suggestions, most of which are used elsewhere to address traffic or other issues. Hopefully, they?ll at least serve as the catalyst for discussion that?ll lead to solutions implemented in Bermuda. Here goes:

ADDRESSING THE HAMILTON RUSH HOUR(S)

Establish HOV lanes

A HOV or ?High Occupancy Vehicle? lane is an inbound or outbound part of a road where at certain times any vehicle other than a bike/scooter or public transportation vehicle travelling on it in a certain direction must have a minimum number of people in that vehicle. For instance, if Harbour Road were HOV-3 from 7.30 to 9.30 a.m. eastbound and 4 to 6 p.m. westbound each workday, any vehicle on the Road heading east between 7.30 and 9.30 a.m. or west between 4 and 6 p.m. must contain at least three people, children included (not pets). Any Harbour Road resident would not be exempt, but must access his/her residence from a direction opposite when HOV is in force. Police could monitor this with heat-seeking devices with violators facing heavy fines.

Encourage ?slugging?

No! This is not some sort of lettuce or animal concoction, but a win-win transport method for both passenger and driver. It?s simple, and having used it myself know that it works. Given HOV-3 lanes, how to have at least 3 people in your vehicle? Pick up ?slugs? at appointed parking areas or elsewhere along the roadside before using the HOV lane and dropping them off in Hamilton en route to the vehicle?s parking spot. Inbound slugs drive from home to designated parking areas at major grocery stores or elsewhere along the way where they?re picked up by a driver wanting to use the HOV-3 lane and needing more passengers. The stores benefit from commuters? business in the evenings when they purchase items on their way back from work. There would be several designated slug pickup spots in Hamilton in the evening, depending on which HOV lane the outbound slug and driver intend to travel.

Establish a congestion charge in Hamilton

The number of vehicles entering London during weekday work hours has noticeably dropped since London introduced its ?congestion charge?, which is a fee any non-public vehicle entering a certain central area at any time during the workday must pay. Most drivers pay in advance on account or on the day of travel. Given its congestion-reducing success, why not establish a similar program for non-public vehicles entering Hamilton during weekday rush hours? Or, in conjunction with HOV/slugging, with fewer than three people in them?

Encourage schools (particularly those near Hamilton) and Hamilton-based businesses to set up carpooling programmes

Rush hour traffic into Hamilton is quite different depending on whether school?s in session. Setting up HOV lanes and a congestion charge will help, but if Bermuda?s going to get ?sustainable? I hope this will extend to ?encouraging?/requiring school and business carpooling programmes, particularly for Hamilton area schools and large employers, including Government.

Increase the amount of bike space on the ferries

You can?t operate the ferries to accommodate everyone, but more bike spaces at least will encourage folks to use public transport for a part of their daily commute.

ADDRESSING CONGESTION ISSUES

Cap the number of cars and trucks permitted on the roads

We do this for taxis don?t we, so why not for cars and trucks? For our area, population, and number of paved dual track roads, determine the reasonable number of cars we ?should? have. As of a certain date cap the number of cars able to be licensed on our roads. So if you want to drive a car on our roads after that date your car will need a permit number. This probably would involve developing a permit number system instead of using assessment numbers, which would work in hand with several other suggestions below. Certainly it would require strong disincentives such as confiscating the cars of violators. Similar concept for trucks.

If we haven?t reached the limit already, then cap the issuance of permit numbers per residential development, e.g. in an apartment block of a main unit and three smaller ones, issue only one permit number. For condo developments similarly reduce the number of permit numbers issued.

Create a free market system for the renting and sale of permit numbers

If you have a car permit number you have the option of using it to register and drive a car here, selling the permit number, or renting it to someone else. So car permit numbers could be traded in a free market system. This concept is similar to electricity generators and other companies elsewhere buying and selling pollution credits to meet government environmental standards. It could be applied here.

Allow car clubs to operate

Club members purchase points, which they can use toward renting different sized vehicles from the Club?s fleet for a number of hours/days per month. Different membership levels permit use of different sized vehicles and/or amount of rental time. Thus, those of us who only want a car for occasional use could be accommodated and there?d be a more efficient use of vehicles. Club dues would include repair and maintenance, insurance, licensing, etc. Like renting a car, members pay for gas.

ADDRESSING SPEEDING and OTHER TRAFFIC INFRACTIONS

Make Traffic Enforcement a profit centre

Manage it as you should a business and hire as many police as is cost effective to enforce traffic regulations. Remember, unlike most other police divisions, traffic cops writing tickets earn Government revenue. Run as a business to address a problem, the cops might be incentivized based on the amount of revenue collected, requiring not only an accurate writing of tickets, but an efficient prosecution and collection system. Enforce the notion that if you speed, you?re going to get caught. And if you get caught, you?ll be fined heavily and perhaps your vehicle will be confiscated. It?s human nature to continue behaviour until we?re incentivized or deterred to change it. Clearly, the excessive speeding continues. Clearly, the current system isn?t working well enough. Changing how Traffic Enforcement is operated could be a start.

OTHER

Expand public transportation service & target breakeven rather than profitmaking operations

Not that the bus and ferry service/timetables are bad. But I hear repeatedly that the buses don?t travel on a nearby road so folks who would like to use public transport to commute can?t easily. If you?re going to recraft how people think about commuting to/from Hamilton, I urge you to put more public buses ? perhaps minibuses at rush hours only ? on the well-travelled but secondary roads to appeal to a broader range of commuter.

Too, the setting of public transportation fees should be part of the big picture: Make them compellingly inexpensive to encourage broader use of the services. As part of a transport strategy, the series of disincentives to drive a car solo into Hamilton at rush hour should be matched by some incentives. Rather than trying to operate public transport at a profit, why not reinvest any surplus funds to augment service and depress fares to appeal to as many people as possible?

Set annual vehicle (re)licensing fees on a mix of factors

Currently these fees are based on a vehicle?s size. If Bermuda is serious about pursuing a sustainable development strategy, why not base these on a combination of factors, including engine and vehicle sizes, fuel consumption e.g. mpg, pollution emitted (nitrous oxides, particulates, etc.) per the manufacturer?s representations or a non-biased testing group, type of fuel used, etc.?

Focus on Southside as a business hub

Not an easy sell given the current lack of amenities compared to Hamilton, but its location close to the Airport, free of Hamilton congestion, proximity to TeleBermuda (free of the Telco ?last mile? telecommunications bottleneck/costs), and lower office rents would seem to offer some firms a viable office location alternative to Hamilton office space. Can Government, in conjunction with the BLDC, offer firms incentives to locate there?

Thinking about bottlenecks and some minor things to improve traffic flow

A lot of this is common sense. For example, traffic flow into Hamilton at rush hour: Why does the lane furthest left stop at all? Identify and address the impeding factors, e.g. the traffic light for container trucks turning to the Number Eight Shed area near the Front Street East peace dove or cars turning west (i.e. right) from King Street onto Front Street. Another could be timing traffic lights so that there?s better flow.

I look forward to reading others? comments and those being catalysts to seriously address our traffic issues. They?re not going to be liked by everyone. But, as I?ve written above, these didn?t develop overnight. It?s going to take some hard and probably unpalatable medicine to effectively address the issues as part of a broad transportation strategy for Bermuda.

FOBB

(For a Better Bermuda)

City of Hamilton