Residents are optimistic about the impact the new fast ferries will have on ferry use, but do not anticipate they will use the ferry system more, a survey has revealed.

The Bermuda Omnibus survey, carried out by Total Marketing and Communications and its Canadian affiliate Corporate Research Associates, surveyed 402 Bermuda residents on ferry use.

The survey revealed that 64 percent of residents expected that ferry use would increase due to the new fast ferries. Twenty-two percent of those optimistic expected that ferry use would increase significantly. Only five percent of residents did not predict any increase in ferry use.

But, while residents anticipated that the new ferries would impact the number of users, they were notably less inclined to say that the new fast ferries would encourage their increased use of ferries.

Less than three in ten residents said they believed they would travel by ferry more often while 71 percent said they anticipate no change in their personal use.

Those people who anticipated that the new ferries would increase ferry use significantly were most likely to say they would use the ferries more often.

However the survey also revealed that while most residents consider traffic congestion to be a problem, the vast majority does not make use of public transportation.