morning and last ferry to Somerset and Dockyard. At a time when budget cuts have to be made and no scheme or project is sacrosanct, the service, which was taking a loss of $100,000 a year, must have seemed too obvious to ignore. In truth it was too easy.

Confidence in the reliability of public transport is built over time. If you keep tampering with the schedules, people make other arrangements because they lose trust in the system. Public transport has to be seen as a public service.

The potential costs of the cuts are high.

It will be an inconvenience to people who use the ferries to get to and from work in either Hamilton or Somerset and more people are now likely to use private transport which will add to congestion on the roads.

Ferry cuts will also hurt the Island's image as a tourist destination where it is easy to get around, forcing visitors to ride mopeds, a less and less popular form of transportation because of increased congestion, take taxis which are expensive, or use the limited bus service to the West End.

We also question the evidence Government accumulated in coming to the decision to cut ferries.

A survey of ferry users was taken, showing that just ten or 11 people used the service. But this survey was taken in January, the time of year when ferries are least used.

Having poured millions of dollars into the successful redevelopment of the Dockyard, it would be foolish to endanger the project by making it difficult or expensive to reach the West End and use the facilities. Indeed, this summer may well be the time to boost transport to the area in the evening, not reduce it, and, like the old ocean liner advertisements, there is as much pleasure in getting to your destination on an evening ferry as there is in the destination itself.

The United Bermuda Party should take care that it does not weaken its self-proclaimed image as the party best able to preserve Bermuda's quality of life by making decisions like this.

The truth is that it is the availability of services like this and the now defunct twice-weekly garbage collection which have made Bermuda a pleasant place to live and work and one of the best destinations in the world to visit.

Cut them, and we damage our image and that is what we trade on.

We are also concerned that further cuts in the Police could hurt the Island's reputation. To some degree we agreed with MP Mr. Phillip Smith when he said in the House on Wednesday that we are overpoliced.

What is worrying is that the budget cuts appear to be aimed at the heart of the Police -- daily law enforcement -- not at some of the extras.

If cuts in manpower are going to be made, they could be accompanied by some cuts in Police operations and responsibilities.

As examples, the Police should look at substituting the Police prosecutors in Magistrates' Court with civilians; removing the wandering abroad law from the books, thus reducing arrests and Police time; employing civilians as clerks, mechanics and 911 operators in order to save salary costs; delaying the purchase of new vehicles for senior officers.

It is in these areas, and not cutting Police on the beat, that reductions should be made. The alternative will be rising crime, especially against visitors, and this will lead to even more damage to the Island's image.