the lack of an evening ferry service between Dockyard and Hamilton is seriously threatening the success of the project.

Mr. Ed Williams, commercial development manager of Wedco, confirmed that in spite of repeated requests from his company, the last ferry still departs from Dockyard at 7.10 p.m. and that, as far as he knew, there were no plans for later ferries during the summer. On Sundays and public holidays, the ferry leaves even earlier -- at 5.30 p.m.

He also charged that Government was missing "a golden opportunity'' to re-think the entire problem of transportation in Bermuda, and that more consideration should be given to increasing water travel as a way of reducing congested roads.

The comments came as proprietors who have invested heavily in night-time entertainment and leisure spots at Dockyard and the West End are complaining that the lack of public transportation is ruining potential business.

Contacted yesterday, Transport Minister the Hon. Ralph Marshall said that expensive running costs made it unlikely that ferry services would be increased: "It costs $130 an hour just in operating costs alone to run the ferry and we would need 87 passengers to break even. There just aren't that number of people using it.'' He said that out of every dollar spent to operate the ferries and buses, only 40 cents was made from fares: "We have tried to encourage people to use the ferries. At one time, we even had a free service to Dockyard and people still didn't use it.'' Mr. Marshall, who often commutes by ferry from his home in Somerset to Hamilton, said that only about 10 percent of the population travel into Hamilton on public transport.

Studies indicated that if it were found necessary to increase public transportation it would be cheaper to run extra buses rather than ferries.

He added that Government continued to monitor the situation: "We would certainly like to provide extra services. For that, we need a blank cheque, but I'm afraid we don't have one.'' Full story -- Page 22.