Private Cars and Taxis
Cars were not allowed in Bermuda until 1946. Today Bermuda has a large number of private cars, almost one for every two inhabitants; however, only residents are allowed to drive them. This is largely because, with close to 300,000 visitors a year, allowing car rental on one of the world's most densely populated islands would quickly bring traffic to a standstill, as well as bankrupt the island's taxi industry. Car prices are much higher than in the United States, Canada, and Europe, due to heavy import duties, and residents are also limited to one car per household. The size of cars is also restricted (due to the narrow and winding roads on Bermuda), meaning that many models popular in the United States, Canada, and Europe are not available in Bermuda. Only the Governor and Premier are exempt from these restrictions.
There is no car hire (car rental); visitors may only rent low-power motor scooters; they may also use the extensive public bus system, or take taxis. The highest speed limit anywhere on the island is 35 km/h (approximately 20 mph), and it is lower in built-up and other congested areas.
Read more about this topic: Transport In Bermuda
Famous quotes containing the words private and/or cars:
“For such will be our ruin if you, in the immensity of your public abstractions, forget the private figure, or if we in the intensity of our private emotions forget the public world. Both houses will be ruined, the public and the private, the material and the spiritual, for they are inseparably connected.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“I looked, there was nothing to see but more long streets and thousands of cars going along them, and dried-up country on each side of the streets. It was like the Sahara, only dirty.”
—Mohammed Mrabet (b. 1940)