Bermuda will have an new bus system by next summer.

Assistant director of the Public Transportation Board Dan Simmons told The Royal Gazette an Island-wide survey on future bus service needs had been completed.

And, Mr. Simmons said, a more efficient system should be in place by July.

The new system will take into account the Island's first senior secondary school at Prospect -- Cedarbridge Academy -- which will open next September and accommodate some 900 14 to 17 year olds.

Parents have called for direct buses from both ends of the Island to Cedarbridge to prevent hundreds of teens from congregating at the Hamilton bus depot.

The issue was most recently raised this week at the National PTA's final general meeting for the year.

National PTA president Anthony Steede said: "We would like to see direct buses from the extremities. We will have about 500 to 600 kids going to Cedarbridge by bus.

"The Education Department is aware of our concern. And they were supposed to be writing to the director of PTB about this.'' PTB director Herman Basden said officials there had met with the Education Department and the matter was still under discussion.

But he pointed out that buses will be routed according to demand.

"It is not a simple as they might think,'' Mr. Basden added. "There are nowhere near the number of buses in Bermuda to give everybody what they want.

But there are enough buses, if scheduled correctly, to serve everybody.'' Earlier this year, Mr. Basden said: "With the number of buses they need we just can't put four buses up there (at Cedarbridge). It has to be integrated into the schedule. It is an enormous problem as much as we have to take the schedule apart and build it up again.'' While PTB knew the locations of Cedarbridge Academy and the designated middle schools, he explained that board officials needed to know how many buses will be required for the schools.

Last week, Mr. Simmons confirmed that PTB officials were having discussions with the Education Department. And the revamping of the bus system was on schedule.