Congestion? What congestion?

Royal Gazette Opinion, Thursday 18 August 2005

I live in St. George’s. Every weekday morning, at around 8.15am, I get into my car and drive to Hamilton. In the evening, usually around 5.45pm, I drive home again.

The journey each way takes around 30 minutes, whether school is in or out. I rarely sit in traffic for any length of time unless Swing Bridge is open, there’s been an accident, or a passing hurricane has destroyed the Causeway.

So I’m baffled when I hear people complain about the amount of traffic on Bermuda’s roads. “Rush hours are not the only problem,” wailed the Bermuda Sun in an editorial last Friday. “When was the last time you drove at the weekend without anyone in front or behind you? It’s always a train of traffic, and it’s getting longer every day.”

If being able to drive without having anyone in front or behind is most people’s definition of congestion, then I can understand why so many think there’s a problem. Certainly, there’s more traffic on the roads than there used to be. But if Bermuda has this massive, island-wide problem with congestion, why haven’t I seen it yet? Where is all this traffic that everyone’s getting so het up about?

Perhaps it’s because I’m used to UK traffic levels, but the way I see it, the problem is not that Bermuda has too many cars. It’s that there are too many cars in certain places at certain times of day.

I find that when people complain about Bermuda’s traffic, most of the time they’re referring to the rush-hour traffic between Hamilton and the West End. On the few occasions that I’ve been unlucky enough to experience it, it was indeed terrible. But this suggests that the number of people living west of Hamilton and the design of the roads coming into town from that direction are the real problem.

As such, we should be targeting our congestion-reducing measures on those choke-points, or at least implementing ideas that won’t penalise those who aren’t actually contributing to the traffic jams (such as us East End drivers). It’s far too early to be talking about blanket restrictions on singles, expats or married couples without children. At least give us time to have some kids first, please.

The first thing we should do is get more people living in Hamilton. Mayor Lawson Mapp had it backwards when he said that the proposed restrictions on car use might encourage more people to live in town: we should be encouraging people to live there so we don’t need those restrictions. Abolish the archaic height limit and start building inexpensive apartment blocks targeted at singles and expat workers.

The next thing would be to establish school buses for the private schools. The National Transport Management Review estimated that traffic coming into Hamilton is 16% higher during term-time. Buses won’t take the whole of that 16% off the road, but they ought to knock out a sizable chunk.

We should start charging people to use the roads too. The British government is currently considering replacing road tax and petrol duty with a pay-as-you-go road charging system. A black box would be installed in every vehicle to allow a satellite system to track it; drivers would be charged by the mile for the journeys they make. Quiet roads outside rush hour would be cheaper than busy roads at peak times. A feasibility study conducted by the British government last year concluded that such a scheme could cut congestion by 40% there.

The idea would fit nicely with Bermuda’s consumption model of taxation: the more you use the roads, the more you pay. It would also allow commuters to be charged more for using the busy roads from the west than the much quieter roads from the east.

If we don’t want to go that far then we should at least implement a congestion charge in Hamilton. This would require people to pay to drive into town at certain times of the day. Start charging $10 a day to wave at Johnny Barnes and you’d soon see a drop in traffic. London introduced a congestion charge in February 2003 that’s credited with reducing congestion there by 30%.

Finally, let’s not forget that Bermuda is only one mile wide and surrounded by water. There may be only one road into Hamilton from the west, but there are an infinite number of water routes. The water should be one of our primary modes of transport. Yet our ferry system only services a small number of locations and water taxis still seem as distant as ever. That needs to change.

Bermuda’s traffic congestion is not bad enough to warrant further restrictions on car ownership. Problems tend to be localised to particular areas and particular times of day. We should focus our efforts on these bottlenecks instead.

Comments

[Bermudian in Limeyland on 18.08.05 at 09:52]

I grew up in Bermuda, but have been living in London for the last two years and I have noticed on my twice yearly visits to the island that it is not so much the number of cars that have increased on the roads, but rather it appears to be the proportion of cars to bikes that has changed. I expect that this is in part due to the generous car allowances offered to many expatriate workers, but also more importantly due to a growing trend by locals to switch to the car as a preferred mode of transport. The car in many cases is seen as a superior status symbol.

A solution to any excessive car use as I see it would be to increase the cost of all day parking (ie at Bull's Head) for cars to the extent that it makes it more economically attractive to take a bike in to town. This policy should be reinforced by converting several of the car parking spaces along the streets of town into bike parking.

I would also like to add how I am appalled that the topic of banning expats from owning cars is even being discussed in parliament. The very idea of this discussion only serves to increase the perception of an us-versus-them mentality that will have a detrimental impact on Bermuda's status as a first rate international business destination. It appears to be yet another example of small minded government.

[Mack on 18.08.05 at 10:31]

I live in the West (sandys) and find that the traffic is no problem and it makes me chuckle when people moan about it. It seems as everyone wants to be the only car in sight!!! Modern life means that people expect to be free to do what they want when they want and I don't believe that this will change. I believe that treating ex-pats even further as second class citizens will only encourage many of them to leave. If Bermuda wants to be a centre for international business then it must attract some of the top people - the very people who are in demand everywhere in the world.

I think some serious work need to be done on the roads, especially in improving safety for pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers. Blind exits needs to be altered as much as possible and proper pedestrian crossings should be put in place of the faded, unlit, badly positioned zebra crossings.

Improving the ferry services further would encourage people to use them.

A monorail could be a possible solution but the population level means that the expense would be prohibitive. Would look cool though ;-)

I seriously think that it is time to halt to bike rentals to tourists, both on safety and congestion reasons.

I am without a car at the moment and it is hell. The public transport system is just not viable in terms of speed, convenience and flexibility.

[pixie on 18.08.05 at 10:48]

A better public fast ferry service could benifit us all along with an efficiant ecological bus service. Think about it if they were really dependable people would use it. If someone is used to U.K. levels of congestion its understandable why they won't see things as we see them we've seen the build up over the years. I guess i'm for cutting back on the number of cars we're so small an island it would be interesting to develop our public services to help locals and tourist alike in getting around. I imagine its sensitive as each person seems to have a need for a car, I just think real good public trans could curb the desire for many.

[Bandit on 18.08.05 at 10:58]

The UK Government are in a dreamworld thinking that black boxes and pay as you drive would work in reducing conjestion. Duty on gas in the UK is 67% (including VAT) so they are already paying as they drive. As for conjestion charges in London they certainly work. However, have you ever tried to get a taxi to Heathrow airport from the centre of London? Most actually refuse or will quote you an horrendous amount, simply because of the conjestion charges.

The answers to Bermuda's traffic problems are actually quite simple. Raise the car driving are to 21. Over the three year inception period this will reduce the number of car drivers by about 10%. Leave the bike ages at 16/18, and lower the costs (duty) on new bikes (motor and pedel) to encourage their use.

In addition an improved ferry service would help, especially if they were more receptive to allowing cycles on there like they used to be.

[Slowhand on 18.08.05 at 11:38]

I live almost as far west as you can get, and have lived with this problem as long as I have been on the road (some 25 years). It has steadily gotten worse over the years (after Fabian it was ridiculous, due to the closure of Harbor Rd.) I work in town, my children go to school in town and my wife works outside of town, and we all leave home at about 7:10 am at the latest in order for the kids to get to school on time. Any later, and it adds 15 – 20 min to our travel time. Rainy days we have to leave earlier, or its longer… up to 1hr 30 min in the car. I do need the car in order to get my wife to her job, and for other reasons I’ll not get into here, so public transportation is not a viable option. Even if it were, the services here are very limited. The Bus has limited service over Watford Bridge, and the Boaz Island ferry service is no more. They still sail right by, but they just won’t stop, supposedly because there were not enough riders. The real reason is because they don’t want to have the added expense of building a new dock for the new ferries that we got because they did NOT need a new dock. The first ferry, when it did stop, was too late arriving in town for my kids to use it anyway.
In my opinion the Fast Ferry fails to offer the solution to our needs. It is not convenient in time or location and certainly not worth all the money we put into it. The bottleneck in Paget is the issue and needs a solution….. dare we talk Spanish Point Bridge?

[ferryman on 18.08.05 at 12:46]

Ferry at Jew's Bay would be nice. With lots of parking or minibus service.

Or make lots of parking at Belmont ferry.

And have a few ferries to Rockaway later than 7pm so if you are late at work or eat in town you can still take it to avoid the morning rush.

Knock down a few houses and take away some nature reserve and widen the road in Paget to 4 lanes with an overpass / underpass connecting middle road and south shore roads. Create a new junction and turn lane for the plaza.

Bar parking on south side of front street in the mornings. Move the docks. Change the light pattern at burnaby and front and near bank of bermuda, at least during the morning hours.

Have a police man directing traffic at the junction of harbour rd / the lane and stowe hill.

Build a tunnel or bridge. Forget spanish point, have a one lane bridge going across from harbour road to front st and funnel all harbour road traffic there.

[Philip Barnett on 18.08.05 at 12:57]

How about making Harbour Rd. eastbound an HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane from 7am to 9am? I live in the West End, and am shocked by the proportion of single passenger cars on the road (I estimate 90% of all cars only have the driver in them). Start with cars with 2 or more occupants and bikes, and I guarantee that will solve a huge part of our problem. We will need to address buses (probably too wide to fit on Harbour Rd.) but I am sure we can come up with something there whether it be small commuter vans, or whether it be increased ferry service (and associated bussing to the ferries). You could make Harbour Rd HOV east of Cobb's Hill, because there are no businesses along Harbour Rd. (and parents can slip up Cobb's Hill to drop kids off at Warwick Acadamy). It is a very slight inconvenience for those living along Harbour Rd that wish to come into town by themselves in a car, as the may have to go west first to a cross road and then make an easy left turn into traffic flow on Middle Rd.

If we could take 25% of the cars off the roads in the moring, that would MASSIVELY alleviate traffic.

[Better Change on 18.08.05 at 13:32]

If you think we spent too much on ferries, that's nothing compared to the cost of a bridge - or tunnel.

The future of travel into the City from the west is definitely by way of better water transportation.

[Phil on 18.08.05 at 13:46]

Pixie

I'm not sure improving the bus service will help much. Before it will have any impact on traffic, lots of people will have to start using it. But people will only start using it if it can get them to work quicker than their car can. As buses get stuck in the same traffic as everyone else, and bus lanes are not an option on Bermuda's narrow roads, that's not going to happen. It's a catch 22.

(I don't think carpooling is a solution, either, for the same reason.)

[Full Fullish on 18.08.05 at 14:24]

Here are my 2 cents:

1. Improve the road technology by having lights at each corner in Hamilton which are in sync with each other (Congestion usually starts at Hamilton and works outwards both east and west)

2. No large container trucks, or anything of this nature, which are slow, bulky, etc. on the roads for the times between 8am - 9:30am and 4:30pm - 6pm.

3. Make the parking lot by Spurling Hill multi level as well, make it easier for people to park their cars on the city limits, thus reducing traffic into town.

4. WATER TAXIS - we need them. Just came back from St. Lucia, they are everywhere there, they work, people use them, and they are so much qucker to get around with! Just regulate them the same way as normal taxies.

5. More accomodating ferry service.

6. Give people an incentive to leave their cars at home.

[Full Fullish on 18.08.05 at 14:30]

Oh I also think a bridge would be a good idea, good spot would be Dockyard - Spanish point, that way inbound traffic from the west will have a choice to enter the city from either the west or the east side.

Problem would be the ship's passage however, any good engineers out there with a solution?

Also in favour of moving the cruise ships and docks from Hamilton to the old Naval Anex. It was built for large ships after all....

[monty on 18.08.05 at 14:58]

Great suggestions Limey. Ewart has promised a fast ferry from St. Georges - still waiting for one for us locals (they have one that runs to dockyard - at 11am- return 3pm! not quite working hours).... your mileage point about charging is already in place... we're taxed on the gas - so why not increase the tax & plow that money into providing free ferries?

[Better Change on 18.08.05 at 15:05]

Those suggesting a bridge from Docks to Spanish Point better keep dreaming. The Golden Gate bridge has 100,000 cars a day crossing it - each paying $2.00. How would we raise the hundreds of millions (or more) of dollars to build this? A ridiculous suggestion at best.

A better ferry service is what we need. The time table at the moment is for the convenience of the ferry workers only.

[write on 18.08.05 at 22:38]

Excuse me for asking, but why is the PLP condoning segregation... 'expats should not own cars'

Last time I checked we did not single out people because of class or race. Next thing the Govt will be saying is expats should be served last in the line at the airport because they are making the line long....

Anyway. There are too many cars on the road in the morning.

The perfect solution is:

Bigger Cars.

Bigger Cars can carry more people.
Bigger Cars mean we can only go in one direction at a time.
Bigger Cars mean you won't be able to park so you should just keep on driving and driving and driving...

Let's all petition for bigger cars.

write

[Amin Swan on 19.08.05 at 00:38]

Atlanta is having similar problems as Bermuda, if you've traveled here and experienced a rush (5)hours, you will yearn for Bermuda's traffic problems. The Atlanta city government really has no answers either.

There may have to be drastic steps taken, like issuing special odd even licence plates and rotating driving privilidges, Monday (Odd Plates) Tuesday (even Plates) and so on. The day's you can't drive, you take public transport, and on weekends everyone can drive! I think every country in the world is dealing with similar issues, the answer should not be to build tunnels, more lanes, roads, bridges etc. Atlanta has 8 lanes going in one direction and this has NOT helped a bit. As I said, drastic steps MUST be taken.

[Bandit on 19.08.05 at 05:43]

Some interesting temporary solutions there. Ferrys are all well and good until the weather turns.

As I basically said above the only way to reduce the number of cars on the road is to reduce the number of drivers. THe quickest, easiest and fairest way of doing that is to raise the driving age.

Another quick, effective idea would be to make the buses and ferries free. This could easily be subsidised by increasing the duty on gas and increasing road tax.

[Yet another limey on 19.08.05 at 07:40]

Ferrys are all well and good until the weather turns...

I love the ferrys, they're a cheap and stress free way of getting to work.

But when the weather's bad do you want to be stood out in the rain for 20 minutes wondering if the ferry has been cancelled or get into your nice dry car.

The ferry stops have to be improved, and it would be nice to have a constantly updated electronic display telling you when the next ferry is due (more for tourists) and when they're not running (for commuters)

[Phil on 19.08.05 at 07:50]

Bandit

Raising the driving age to 21 was something that was looked at by the National Transport Management Review. I believe they concluded that it would not have much of an impact on the traffic. This may be because rush hour traffic is not really composed of many people below that age.

[Bandit on 19.08.05 at 08:05]

Limey, that may be the case, but when I lived and worked there I loved my bikes (still do) and had no intention of taking a car test. However, when I was 19 I saw the benefits the car had in picking up women etc. and I took my test. Once I had passed and saw the benefits of driving to work when it was raining etc. I used any excuse to "borrow" the family car. The same went for most of my friends. In fact, most of the people I knew either owned or had access to a car.

If I had not been able to drive back then due to my age it really would not have bothered me, but once I had had a bite of the apple....

I left BDA 24 years ago, and having been back many times since the problem has steadily got worse, as you all know.

[Better Change on 19.08.05 at 08:36]

Just got to work - by ferry. I sat upstairs and looked at the traffic jam on Harbour Road. I laughed! If only they knew how pleasant and stress free the ferry really is. As far as the weather goes there are probably less than 10 days a year when it is raining at exactly the time you want to catch the ferry. Its worth putting up with so you don't have to drive. Its a lovely way to beat the 5pm traffic too. As soon as you pull away from the dock, all of the frustrations of dealing with work - are magically gone.

Try it !

[Better Change on 19.08.05 at 09:33]

If every car owner had to be either the person named on the deeds of a dwelling (owner) or the person named on the rental agreement of a dwelling, then it would be all but impossible to illegally register a car.

Government already has all this info and it would be simple to implement. Don't hold your breath tho. I imagine too many of their own ace boys have cars registered to other houses.

[Stuck in Traffic on 19.08.05 at 09:40]

Public transport is a nonstarter, literally. Far too often we have a wildcat strike because PTB & M&P staff take a day off to go to a 'meeting'. We cannot rely upon public transport as long as the 'workers' are running the system at their convenience.

We don't have room for HOV lanes however much could be done at the carparks to encourage carpooling.

Man carpark entrances from 7A till 10A.

Bulls Head: Reserve the bottom level for 3 & 4 occupant cars only, 2nd level for 2 occupant, top level(in the hot sun) single occupant cars.

4 occupant cars park free. 3 occupant pay a minimal rate. 2 occupant pay the rack rate & single occupant pay DOUBLE the rack rate.

Course EVERYONE will have an excuse why THEY should have an exemption to the regs. Don't like them? Don't drive, ride. Anyone ablebodied should not have a problem with a bike. Some of us get along just fine without AC, the sound system blasting & a cellphone stuck to our ear cause we are all just soooo important.

#1 shed, as long as it continues to exist should be rigidly enforced short term parking for people doing business in the shops & offices. No more 'car shuffling' every 2 hours. Devote most of the shed to free cycle parking. 6 bikes can be parked in 1 car space.

Likwise Parlaville & City Hall should be shorterm & vastly increased bike parking.

Increase & enforce parking for handicapped & seniors just as in US. Double fines for those abusing the priviledge.

Increase loading zone space, must be active. Decrease streetside carparking to 1hr.

[Bandit on 19.08.05 at 10:10]

That is a good idea on the parking front. IN Jersey (C.I.) in any 12 month period your first parking fine is £25, second is £50, third is £100 etc. up to the point where eventually you have to go to court (fifth offence I think) where a driving ban comes in.

Also in I.O.M. anyone banned for 3 years or more, or banned for drink driving more than once, or banned 3 times in a 5 year period has to re-take the test.

[Full Fullish on 19.08.05 at 11:14]

Here's an idea for an incentive to ride instead of drive.

Actually build into the road that imaginary 3rd bike lane, only for Bikes. Or make certain roads for bikes only, like Harbour road, residents taking cars will need to change over to middle road at the next availability. Or from the east end, Harrington Sound road and middle road. North Shore can be used for Cars.....extrememe but so are the other suggestions.

I don't think further taxation of gas, etc is fair for people who require a car for taking children into school, who are too small to catch public transportation, and aren't going in the same direction as the parents place of work.

[Tiggy on 19.08.05 at 16:43]

I agree with the comments that the traffic starts in Hamilton and works its way out - I stop every morning at 8.15 on Reid Street for the garbage trucks. I also agree with Bruce Barritt's comments in the Sun today about the crosswalks - 20 people single file, lollygagging across the road......

[anon w/reason on 20.08.05 at 22:18]

Umm.. I'm not as concerned with the congestion as I am with the pollution.

I live in Devonshire.. and have a 15 minute commute into work... 20 if the dark clouds are out.... but to say that those of us traveling from the east shouldn't have to pay a toll to get into hamilton is stupid. a) it'd raise the cost of houses in the east.. b) it'd probably be chum change for the majority of us.. and c) pollution is the *real* problem...... so i have big gripes with individuals who have the audacity to drive into the city with only one person in their car.... especially those who work on a time shift that can be accommodated by a bus... no names mentioned, of course!

bottom line is we as a community are spoiled.. we can afford the luxury of having our own cars, and to be honest.. the savings of using public transport to the majority of us isn't worth it due to the inconvenience. the only real solution is higher parking fees (like 3x as much)... higher car taxes.. and stricter penalties for road offences.. i.e. if someone gets in an accident for due care - off the road, for 3 years. multiple parking ticket violations? (like 5+ in a year.. without just cause) off the road. if you're caught driving on a suspended license... loose your license forever... etc. that'd help the congestion.

[Raptor on 21.08.05 at 08:54]

I agree with anon w/reason:

Surprise--a recent visitor complained not of heavy traffic, but was shocked at the amount of pollution in the air on the roadways. "Don't you have emissions standards and inspections here?" he asked.

[fly on the wall on 21.08.05 at 23:30]

it's simple, right now it is $9 to get to town and back on the bus or$4 a day for parking....so what do you think people will do??/
make it $1 to get on a bus or ferry and $10 a day for parking...also increase bus service to every 15 minutes....24 hours a day//// crap oh yeh...the Union...we don't like to work....well all plans have flaws

[Full Fullish on 22.08.05 at 09:10]

Ethiops, the roads could be improved (although widening them would be a waste of land in my opinion). It would be vital to keep up to date with road technology, as if we have a week of gale force winds (which has happened before) we would have to rely soley on our roads as all water ways would most likely be down.

I agree with you that we should, most importantly, exploit all available water routes around the Island, however. The ferry service schedule is ridiculous. I just had a look at it this weekend, as I don't use them myself. It is completely UN-accomodating to say the least. Whoever came up with it should be shot...

[tom on 22.08.05 at 10:07]

With all this water around us some of us wanna continue building or widening roads or taking from our shorelines, these folk shouldn't be allowed to think. A fast ferry service and more buses with prices that are in reach.
It's like we have a problem that is in fact a perfect opportunity to create new jobs as a solution. Someone mentioned night buses imo at least one every hour would be interesting

[JJ on 22.08.05 at 11:10]

Water taxis like those in Venice would be a great solution for round the island travel. Also, we should triple the cost of parking. I have always thought that parking is one of the only "cheap" things in Bermuda (Hamilton) when compared to other, albeit larger, cities.

[Lawson Mapp on 22.08.05 at 13:28]

just a clarification in respect to paragraph 9 of “Congestion? What congestion ”. The current fees paid to TCD. Yearly to have your car re-licensed includes a tax for the use of Bermuda’s roads.

I enjoy reading your articles.

Thank you. L.E. Mapp

[mike conto on 03.12.05 at 12:06]

Re: Traffic Problem in Bermuda

The traffic jams are an issue indeed as is the control of exaust emmisions. But what about the seemingly unrestricted noise pollution! I come from a city of over 3,000,000 people with traffic congestion that rivals that of any large city in the world. YET, the engine noise I get coming off many of the scooters around the island makes metropolitan traffic noise levels seem almost soothing. I would barely expect to hear this screaming 2-stroke insanity at a race track let alone outside my bedroom window. I apologise if I'm attacking businesses modifying mufflers that were engineered to ensure quiet and safe engine use (re:
emissions/spark-arresting/temperature) but I don't think the noise is
particularily enjoyed by visitors or residents. Thanks but no thanks.

mike