BHA: ‘Car Rentals Would Enhance Experience’
Following the tabling of the Motor Car Amendment Act — which would allow for rental cars to be offered on the island — the Bermuda Hotel Association said they support the Amendments as they believe “the introduction of car rentals to visitors would greatly enhance the overall visitor experience.”
Bill Tabled To Allow For Rental Cars
The Motor Car Amendment [No. 2] Act 2016 was tabled in the House of Assembly, with the Bill seeking to amend the Motor Car Act 1951 to include provisions for a motor car rental scheme.
The Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum says, “This Bill seeks to amend to amend the Motor Car Act 1951 [the “principal Act”] to include provisions for a motor car livery scheme including the types of motor cars that are available as a rental, the specifications of and licence duty for those motor cars, the licence fee applicable for the operation of a motor car livery, and for connected purposes.”
Transport Minister Michael Fahy said, “The incentive behind the proposal to broaden the types of vehicles for rent on the island is twofold – firstly, allowing tourists the option of renting a motorized vehicle other than a scooter will make us more competitive with other jurisdictions.
“Tourists, like all of us, want options; not all of them feel safe driving a scooter but would still like to remain autonomous when it comes to exploring the island.
“Secondly, and most importantly, this is an issue of safety. Gone are the days of thousands of tourists weaving on relatively empty roads on mopeds leisurely exploring Bermuda. Practically any local person can tell you an anecdotal horror story about witnessing a floundering tourist come off a rental scooter.”
“We currently have short-listed about ten makes of vehicle which we feel would be appropriate for this purpose, all of which are private car A-class in size or smaller in terms of dimensions.
“However the engine sizes and horsepower of the vehicles for consideration, as outlined in the Bill, essentially mean that they will be unable to take more than two passengers and have little to no capacity for carrying luggage of any kind. Whilst we have called the vehicles livery motor cars they are more akin to quadri-cycles, although three-wheeled vehicles are not excluded from consideration.”
Bermuda Hotel Association Comments
Stephen Todd, Chief Executive Officer of the Bermuda Hotel Association, said the BHA supports the proposed amendments to the Motor Car Amendment Act #2 and encourages the relevant legislation to be approved.
“The BHA believes that the introduction of car rentals to visitors would greatly enhance the overall visitor experience,” the BHA said.
“The BHA is of the view that the proposed form of vehicles will not adversely impact on current public transportation service providers, and will simply afford the visitor with an alternate method to explore our beautiful island, in a manner that provides them with the safety and convenience.
Mr. Todd said, “It is important for the Government, in particular the Ministry of Tourism & Transport to provide a full disclosure and description of the specific types of two seater vehicles being proposed, in order to allay the fears and concerns of existing transportation service providers, who are of the belief that this entrepreneurial opportunity will adversely impact upon their livelihood and industry.
“As Bermuda continually seeks to reposition itself in the international tourism destination market, it is of vital importance that we are seen to provide innovative products, services and experiences which are expected and sought after by visitors as they plan their vacations,” the BHA said.
Any idea that puts more cars on our already over-choked roads is poorly conceived. We already have 1+ hour traffic lines to get into and out of Hamilton each day, and can never find a parking spot. So now we are going to have tourists competing for that limited space too. Maybe we should replace all sidewalks with moving conveyor belts because that would be nice too.
So where are they gonna park,will City Hall charge them or do they park free?
Mmmmmm
That’s why you don’t allow this….
Are you freaking serz???
What next? Bermuda is hardly the little unique island it was before try to keep up with the rest of the world.
Our uniqueness is what drives tourist here dumbbells
VOTE NO!!!
maybe a three wheel scooter would do them a little better than the two wheels bike.
Use your brains GOVERNMENT
Yeah, our ‘uniqueness’ has actually driven tourists away.
Or haven’t you being paying attention to our dwindling tourist numbers up until the past few quarters.
No compare our tourism numbers to our cousins down south.
And a 3-wheel scooter will be the same size as these 150cc cars.
Complain about relying on one economic pillar and then complain when trying to rehabilitate the second pillar.
Bermudians will complain ourselves into poverty pretty soon.
Friends and family, what do you expect them to say !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We love to stand in our own way, don’t we?
Couldnt agree more!!! Some bloody moaning. nd embrace the change you ignorant lot
Double S, Juice, Unbelievable and Yet it – you all must be a part of our guest worker family! You obviously do not have an appreciation for or of Bermuda’s history or it uniqueness and its people. If you have read the many news stories of what attracts our Tourists to Bermuda, you will know a rental car is not on the bucket list! So who is bloody ignorant! Seems you all are; including the member of Government who introduced this Bill!
Then if we are so unique then why has our tourism industry been in a free fall since the ’80s.
Did our uniqueness close all those hotels during that period?
The only ignorant ones on here are people such as yourself that thinks we can continue on with the status quo and somehow our tourism industry will turn itself around based on our uniqueness.
Change is needed to our approach if we are going to revive a second pillar of our economy.
Ignorant ones are the people believe that trying the same tired thing and thinking it will be our salvation sometime down the line,
Bermudian to the bone whether you like it or not.
@ Double E,
Well said.
Uniqueness??? The only thing unique about Bermuda now is the hotels that are gone, never to return and our continuing flat-lining air visitor numbers.
Other destinations especially to our south are doing much better and increasing their visitor numbers annualy while we rely mainly on the cruise visitors. SMDH
Double S – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS. This is the business that sent Tourism into free fall in the 80′s. Did you not know this? Guess not! This is why BDA is considered the #1 reinsurance (or close to it) capital of the world! Other reasons included cost, complacency, competition from the South who mirrored our success, etc. Unfortunately the Government of the day chose to ignore again what made us uniquely BDA, and rather than attempt to recapturing the basics of what made our Tourism work, starting with local entertainment, affordable hotel package, upgraded hotel facilities, etc., it Rather it chose to focus primarily on IB. Wouldn’t listen to the Bermudian people and still don’t! Now it has come up with an ignorant proposal to introduce cars to tourists, which you and others think will enhance our Tourism product. Do you really think rental cars will increase Tourist numbers. Go lay down and come up with something more sensible!
Since you need to know, I am as Bermudian as you might be. I was born at King Edward Memorial and went to primary and high school in Bermuda. I also went to the BDA College.
Based on your simple observation which is 100% WRONG, you seem to be the most ignorant. Open your mind. You might learn something.
@ Unbelievable,
Spot on!
I am sure you will make the same comment next time Tweed makes a comment about how Bermuda should do things.
As much as I agree that we have to enhance our visitor’s experience, where are all of these little cars going to park?
So, you work on Front street. or you have come in to town to conduct business at say Butterfield bank, but lo and behold, the car park is filled with the little cars rented by the cruise ship passengers.They left them there overnight, and are not getting up to move them at day break!
And I agree with the Oppostion here. Who’s going to benefit from this?
Yes, you got it.Automative Solutions and Colonial
Guess who are the chief execs at these two companies!
Yet another incredibly poor idea from the Government
You can’t just embrace change without considering all of the outcomes and yes I see how this could be good but I also see how this could be bad and the negatives outweigh the positives. So no this change specifically should not be embraced.
@ Ashley,
Please list the positive and the negatives.
This should be good, popcorn ready. lol
100% agree. Plus, everyone complains that something should be done when lives are lost on our treacherous scooters. Put the brakes on this idea, and you have blood on your hands. Move with the times Bermuda, you’re not as special as you think you are.
Another moron!! All jokes aside why now!!! America Cups around the corner. Pls people stop implementing things here when your going to make your money and leave while us bermudians will have live with these laws when you cash out.
So you’re not in favor of offering an option which could save lives of locals and tourists alike, plus giving tourists an further choice which will keep them coming back here and spending their money.
If you don’t like what a destination offers, would you return there? Remember, like them or not, tourists are the lifeblood of this island, and that means YOUR lifeblood.
Open your eyes and your mind, please.
@ TimBuc,
Why not now, visitors have been riding mopeds etc for decades, this is so overdue. With any luck the America’s Cup will be a success and other events that hopefully follow, is that a bad thing?. This will give visitors more options getting around and with other improvements in our vacation package hopefully encourage more to return. Obviously a bad thing right?.
If it helps to make money for the businesses that operate them so what?!! That’s how businesses works, companies that do well hire more staff etc so what’s wrong with that? How many people do you employ??? I bet no one.
You sound like another ignorant and delusional pay cheque earner who is full of jealousy that someone else might get ahead, crab meet your bucket.
Have you guys even seen the image of these vehicles? They are pretty small and much safer on the roads than rental bikes.
And they’ll help keep us all adhering to the speed limit too! Hope we can hire them when our cars are in for repair! They do need to be crash tested against high speed cars given the way many local drivers drive.
I think the picture was an example of the sort of thing.
More dislikes than likes. You know what that says? That says that more of you just don’t want to listen to reason or at least read about the story.
You just want to moan. When’s the next protest?
@ Unbelievable,
You’re on point again.
Sadly the moaners can’t see they need to get out of the way for Bda to move forward. Probably more upset about who will be renting these vehicles than anything else. Crabs, Buckets comes to mind.
If they’re the same ones they presented two years ago, yes I have, and it still makes the traffic problem worse. This is a terrible idea if you look beyond better transport for tourists, all the other factors are negative ones.
When are the roads going to be fixed?
These vehicles won’t be in rush hour traffic…they’ll be parked at the beach. BTW, we have fewer cars on the road today than at anytime in the last ten years…2000 less than 2007. That’s what a bad economy will do for us.
At the already full parking lots at the beach? Yeah not much better than being in rush hour traffic.
Where did you get that fact from?? Had a look on the government website and there are more cars on the road than ever today.
This country, since the U.B.P./oba has been in power have put some really unfathomable situations in place.They have not been in power 4 years yet.
When is the next election?
This can’t be THE NEW BERMUDA….riddled with nonsense, nonsense and dysfunction.
We Onions have become an island of bitching and moaning about everything
Stop it Joe – it’s just another group bitching and moaning – many, no very many bitched and moaned the day the PlP defeated the new UBP and it never abated …so let’s keep it real ….
So be it. Especially when the bitching and moaning is warranted. In this case, another nonsensical error!
Have they all lost their bloody minds for the mighty dollar? These tourist can’t handle a bike. And now you’re gonna give them more power and a bigger vehicle to cross the yellow line and take out a motorcyclist or another car. If you wanna march and protest something now’s the time. Our roads are to crowded now. I would not wanna be on I motorcycle if this passes. SMH!
ImJustSayin,
Spot on.Could not agree with you more!
The livery’s do not give enough practice to the tourists who rent bikes, what is going to happen now?
LAW SUITS!!!!! WATCH….We broke now… Imagine the increased insurance costs! SMH.
Yet you who passed a driving test with a 35kmh speed limit and a 150cc max bike can go overseas, rent any size car you want and do 90mph+ on an autobahn. It isn’t the tourists causing accidents, it’s the locals. The world doesn’t start and finish with Bermuda, the rest of the world has moved on. You need to do the same.
@ Contours.
Exactly, Yeah like it’s the tourists that are the problems on the roads and not we Bermudians. Who do they think are smashing up all the cars and walls around here????.
The nay sayers comments are for the most part pretty pathetic. SMDH
Complete moronic asinine rubbish.
For years visitors have been complaining about the lack of rental cars. Sorry but an underpowered 150cc oversized toy is not the answer. Better off to rent gas powered golf carts, like Bahama islands do, or modified ATVs which only have a very top speed of around 30mph than what has been seen so far.
Don’t treat visitors like children. They are not. Give them something worthwhile to get around in.
Is a Gas powered motor car road safe? Or and ATV for that matter.
You just contradicted yourself there buddy. “Sorry but an underpowered 150cc oversized toy is not the answer.” Then you go on to say “Better off to rent gas powered golf carts, like Bahama islands do, or modified ATVs which only have a very top speed of around 30mph” You do realize that the cc of that golf cart is much smaller than the 150cc? That said, according to your logic, these gas powered golf carts would also not be the answer.
You people act like you have never been away! Lethe alone away and rent a car.
How do you compare foreign with a 21 square mile island dreamer?
@ smh,
Well in ‘foreign’ its 4 to 6 lane highways and motorways, unfamiliar road signs and road rules get it?.I doubt it. Here it’s mainly stop & give way signs which are universal btw. Outside of roundabouts and ‘our highway’ at the foot of the lane there’s not much to cause most visitors problems.
I’m Bermudian and have driven in Canada and the US and average 3/5,000 miles a year driving the length and breadth of the UK without much hassle and no accidents. But according to some our visitors are incapable of driving small cars on a 21 sq mile island because we drive on the left and our speed limit is slower than most towns and villages. Well British visitors wont have a problem then will they? Unless of course we have a different left! LOL
Whats so hard about small roads and slower speed limits, I guess it’s too dangerous for them to have small cars so we’ll let them have bikes because it’s safer???? Your comment suggests small island = small minds. LMAO
When the people who know tourism better than any others say we need rental cars, that pretty much makes the case.
M.C. Beauchamp – I wonder who those people are! It certainly isn’t Minister Fahy or the people who agreed with him!
The Bermuda Hotel Association is who the people are. That is the group advocating this initiative. That’s what this article is about. The Bermuda Hotel Association is calling for this legislation to be passed.
M.C.
Thats the great problem.They do not know tourism better than the Bermudians who worked for years in the industry. They have absolutely no clue, but they pat themselves on the back and pay themselves a bonus.
Very, very sad.
Nonsense.
@ Bill,
You mean the same Bermudians who oversaw our decline in tourism since 1981???? Please remind us how that worked out for us again?
No, just too many non bermudians trying to tell us what to do and trying to stamp their authority on us.
@ Bill,
LOL, seriously? Well lets just tell all those non Bermudians to take their money, businesses and jobs with them and leave, including the tourists and lets see how that works. SMDH
Sorry mate but your xenophobia and others of your mindset needs sorting and soon.
Now this is worthy of a referendum!!!!!!!! this will in fact effect every one!
No it is not.
It’s no way they all met and responded THIS QUICKLY without it being all planned behind the scenes.!!!
The roads are crowded were do they park them at heritage n kings wharf or outside of hotels or city hall overnigbt
@ armylife,
There are a few thousand less vehicles on the road since the recession and the IB flight, do you think the visitors will be dropping their kids at school mornings and or picking up their spouses after work as well? LMAO
It’s also a huge safety problem, The island is only so big, sure it may give a better experience to tourists, but it’s not such a great thing if this increases our already high accident rate.
It would be good…better, anyway, if Bermudians suddenly learned to drive properly. Stop speeding, overtaking on blind corners, and 3rd laning. Driving is a privilege, not a death wish. Our roads should not be racetacks, people. This “me first, me first” attitude should not be the norm. Drive, but drive with some common sense.