With a limit of one car per household Bermuda has one of the most restrictive anti-car policies in the world.

Yet Bermuda?s regular rush-hour gridlock is causing people to now openly question whether this quota goes far enough while Transport Minister Ewart Brown is now floating the idea of limiting the rights of expatriate workers to have an automobile.

As PTB director Dan Simmons says: ?The problem is there are too many people in cars, one person to a car.

?At some point a moratorium on the number of cars is going to have to be held. There?s a finite capacity of Bermuda?s roads to absorb vehicles and we are getting there in the peak hours.

?At some point, somebody has to say enough is enough.

?In a country like Bermuda where your flora and fauna and environment part of the natural attraction, you can kill the goose that lays the golden egg by having too many vehicles.?

He said the whine of engines, similar to gnats buzzing around your head, was not something he would pay to go and experience as a tourist.

?At some point the convenience to us, compared to the convenience of the tourist are going to cross and it may well have crossed already. We just don?t know.?

He said staggered work start times have to be examined.

?If we look at it and say it won?t work, at least we have made a decision.?

Getting them commuters out of the car is a thorny problem.

?Bermudians love the cars, you have to provide alternatives. One is to not make it that easy to park in Hamilton.

?I think Corporation and Government should work together to create a traffic flow plan in and out of Hamilton during the rush hours. Common sense would see if there are four in a car, there are three other cars missing.

?You can have a carrot and a stick, the stick is make it more expensive to park long-term in Hamilton, provide some penalty.

?That may mean we don?t allow cars into Hamilton between 8.30 a.m. and 9.15 a.m. with just one person ? if you are in a car by yourself you can?t come.

?Land is at a premium so the park and ride option, other than what they are doing at the ferry terminal in Southampton, is not something which can be readily had.?

But there are possibilities. He said in the Internet age there was no real reason why everyone had to come into Hamilton to do business.

?Everybody wants to get into Hamilton and get out through a small door at the same time. We can?t build more roads.

?But if you can string that out a bit more you can ease the daily commute. The answer lies in multiple efforts.?

He said rush hour traffic was beginning to back up in the East as general congestion has increased.

National Trust Executive Director Steve Conway said while car ownership is limited to one per dwelling unit, as houses increase so will the cars. Public transport and encouraging people to get out of their cars or at least share them are all lauded by the charity.

Three times in one month, National Trust staff came in late because they were snagged up in traffic in the West, said Mr. Conway.

?It?s the number cars,? he said. ?If you keep giving a car per household maybe the reality is at some point ? and I am not say the Trust is proposing this ? something has to give.

?Perhaps there could be like a needs check ? you only have a car if you have a family. Then there are special needs. But it opens up a whole can of worms because somebody has to be judge and jury about who?s applying for a car.

?With cars, it?s people?s pride and joy. It?s their mobile piece of real estate. They put their names on (them).

?In a way it?s an extension of their home which they park in Hamilton. You keep your stuff in it. As soon as you get in, you put the radio on and you are home. People don?t like to give that up so what is the incentive?

?People want to keep the character and look of Bermuda but they still want their cars.

?But it wasn?t made for the car, it was made for the horse and buggy and push bike.

?Elsewhere in the world, once you are outside the quaint old town there is a big highway.

?If we want less congestion Bermudians have to give up something.?

Transport Minister Dr. Brown said he was considering restrictions on car use for contract workers after saying he was glad people were calling for a car limit.

?I am happy to hear that kind of conversation is occurring. Four years ago when I introduced the idea it was thought to be very Draconian.

?Now I see it is being thought about which is a good thing.

?I have not had a chance to sit with my technical officers and come up with the most likely to succeed recommendation. That?s a political judgment which has to be made.?

Asked which ideas had taken his eye, he said: ?The idea of somehow restricting the number of cars available to expatriate contract workers is an interesting one.?

Asked if workers with families would be exempted he said: ?There are no details yet but we are still at the conceptual level.

?Bermudians have said it?s one of the more serious issues. It comes right behind affordable housing.

?I was told by a senior transportation consultant once that people won?t accept change in transportation until they feel it personally.

?It?s not a big problem until it affects them. What Bermudians do is buy a car on Saturday and then Monday, when they are driving to work, they say ?there are just too many cars in Bermuda?.?