Saturday?s move of the Hamilton bus terminal has apparently left passengers confused and Church Street motorists disorientated.

?We had no idea that the bus terminal moved,? said a visiting family from Charlottesville, Virginia who were waiting at Hamilton?s newly closed Central Bus Terminal on Washington Street.

Not seeing any signs of the switch the visitors said they were fortunate to wait only a few minutes before receiving directions to the new terminal from a Public Transport Board (PTB) employee.

But a local passenger wasn?t as lucky, said one of the visitors. ?He had been waiting there for 20 minutes before he was told that the terminal moved. I don?t think he looked as lost as we did.?

The bus terminal, which is over 30 years old, was officially closed Saturday at Midnight to enable the construction of a new terminal in the same location.

Until the new terminal is opened, which is expected in the first quarter of 2005, the buses will run out of a temporary terminal on the Western side of City Hall. The temporary terminal occupies Dismont Drive, which was previously the access road to the City Hall car park and is now closed to general traffic. Two new entrances to the lot are now open on the Northern and Western sides of the lot.

But motorists unaware of the new terminal and attempting enter the parking lot from Church Street were turned back by a PTB employee standing at the entrance. A sign indicating the new terminal also stands at the entrance, but is facing the opposite direction to the East ward flow of Church Street traffic.

The new terminal is a joint partnership with the Corporation of Hamilton and the Government, and will cost approximately $2.9 million.

Transport Minister Ewart Brown, who announced the project in a Press conference earlier this month, said the Central Bus Terminal no longer met the needs of commuters, having been built in the 1970s.

?We need to keep up with the changing times,? said Dr. Brown. ?An increase in commuter demands placed on the current facility, coupled with safety issues from a design perspective make this terminal no longer viable.?

He said the new terminal will be safer and user friendly for visitors and tourists. ?Additional concerns facing the current terminal range from inadequate coverage during bad weather to a lack of capacity for buses pulling in to service over three million passenger rides annually.?