Did you know there are already a great many Bermudians and non-Bermudians who already car pool? They call it "dropping their kids off at school".
If something is really to be done about our traffic issues, the first step should be to provide dedicated school buses. Why? Well, very simply, what parent truly feels safe putting their 5 year old on a public bus?
If there were dedicated school buses, there would be less need for people to drop their kids off at school.
Allow me to explain why this would impact traffic density on our island.
Have you ever driven on a highway abroad? Well congestion often is created by the simple action of one person tapping their breaks on a busy highway. When one person taps their brakes, they cause the person behind them to do so as well. This causes a chain reaction that cascades to the point where, eventually, a couple miles back, cars stop entirely.
A different, yet similar, kind of congestion occurs on our roads. When a parent drives out of their way to drop their kids off, they are deviating from the most direct route they could take. This means they add extra congestion in other routes on their way to schools. When they add extra congestion, it is kind of like tapping brakes on a highway. This extra congestion causes a slowdown in those areas. These areas then create a spot where all the routes feeding into them also begin to have congestion. Before you know it, you've got cars far away from the actual school zones that have stopped to a standstill.
The moral of this story: we need dedicated school buses.
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