Former Transport Minister Wayne Furbert has called on Government to do something about traffic congestion on the roads.

And Mr. Furbert said he thought one sure-fire way to ease the congestion -- although he admitted it might be "political suicide'' -- would be to ban all but the most highly placed expatriate workers from having cars.

"I'm very concerned with how Bermuda must come to grips with the traffic problems overall,'' Mr. Furbert said.

"Since I left the Ministry of Transport, for some reason, there seems to be so much more traffic. Maybe I'm on the road much more than I used to be. I don't know.

"My focus was specifically on the airport, which we had just taken over since the Americans had just pulled out,'' he continued.

"We probably focused 80 percent on getting a good management team in place but in my last two or three months we produced Transportation 2000 which is now being used.'' Mr. Furbert added: "It's time for our Country to ask of our politicians what we are going to do about traffic.'' He said the Ministry, through the Transport Control Department (TCD), should first clamp down on instances where residents were driving cars on assessment numbers that they did not live at.

Another instance of illegal use clogging up our roads were light vehicles being used for personal transportation -- often after their owners had gone out of business.

"Vans are being used, which are not for the purpose which they were obtained,' he said. "People who had businesses are now continuing to use them now their businesses are at a lower scale. I'm sure there are many of us that know people who are flouting the rules.

"Others are out there who get a car licence and use their mother or grandmother's assessment number. I don't know how many are out there but it could be ten percent.'' Mr. Furbert said another contributor to congestion was the number of cars that have hit the roads since the introduction of the second-hand car market.

"I hate to say it, but it's also this second hand car market,'' he said.

"Let's look at it and see if it is having any effect on traffic. Is it going to become a bigger problem? If it is, then let's admit that we made a mistake and the current Government should look at taking it off the books.'' Mr. Furbert also suggested the Island reconsider the relaxation of the rule banning someone from buying a new car if they had sold their own car, adding: "Either we should get rid of it totally or extend that to three years.'' But Mr. Furbert understood that his most controversial suggestion, banning expats from owning cars, would be a tough one.

"It's difficult to say, but with individuals who come to Bermuda who work for the international businesses, should they have a right to a car or do they need a car, because of its effect on traffic?'' he said.

"I know it's harsh and even discriminatory, but look, it has its effect.

Right now we have a control on them buying a house,'' Mr. Furbert continued.

"Why can't we come up with something where if a person is working in international business, and I'm not saying a CEO, but if you're here in the short-run like three years or less, we're saying you can't own a car? "What is the impact these individuals are having on traffic problems? We should ask that,'' he added.

But to get such people around, Mr. Furbert said we would have to improve public transportation, making it more "convenient and affordable''.

"Once we make it convenient and affordable, the public will take to it,'' he said. "Especially if we are going to say that you can't have a car.

"The cost of public transportation was increased this year when the public should have had a reduction.'' Mr. Furbert added: "Of course it's going to be a very heavily subsidised programme.'' "I see the Minister is now talking about what I would call faster ferries as opposed to fast ferries. Here we go again, let's make them affordable and convenient.

He concluded: "Once we've done all these things then we can say that enough is enough. '' Tracking island's traffic problems: Wayne Furbert UBP