1 week ago
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Belize’s National Bus Company is now officially up and running, marking what government officials describe as a major structural shift in the country’s public transportation system. The National Bus Company, formed under a public-private partnership model, officially began operations yesterday with seventeen of Belize’s thirty-one bus operators merging into the new entity. Officials say the move is aimed at standardizing and upgrading services for commuters through improved fleet management, more reliable scheduling, and stable, predictable fares. The initiative forms part of the government’s broader transport modernization agenda. Minister of Transportation Dr. Louis Zabaneh says momentum is already building, revealing that since the official launch, several additional operators have expressed interest in joining the merger.
Dr. Louis Zabaneh , Minister of Transport: “March 1st yesterday, Sunday was our first day for the National Bus Company. From all across the country, 17 operators started under the new company, National Bus Company. Since then today we have been observing the areas that, to no surprise, we need to improve upon. In some cases where there are not enough buses and you have standees for example, and in other cases where you have duplication. Across the country with the 31 operators we have practically 300 buses. In this 17 bus company, operator company, what we have is approximately 85 buses that would be running every day in a fleet with backup buses of about 113. So those buses are all getting their stickers. We started putting them on on Saturday and within the next couple days they will all have the National Bus Company stickers on them. This whole transformation is about our commuters. It’s about providing quality service to them. And so everything that we do is with them in mind. When we see that we have duplications we would advise them that instead of expecting, for example, to see three 6AM buses they might only see two. Or when we know that there’s need for another run that we will start to advertise that there’ll be a run in a certain location point A to point B because we know that it’s needed. We just need a few more days so that we can start to advise the public of any changes. So at this time we wanted to make it clear that there will be no changes immediately but however once we identify, and we have already started to identify areas that need to change, we will give commuters enough time to adjust. This has all been on a voluntary basis. The 17 buses comprise 65% of the market in terms of miles covered and customers moved. The other buses, 14 or so of them that did not participate, by the way a few of them are now calling that they wish to do so and our doors are open to all of them.”
As part of the modernization push, Zabaneh also disclosed that the government is actively pursuing the acquisition of more modern buses, including electric units. He noted that as recently as this afternoon, ministry officials were in meetings with another set of potential e-bus suppliers as government explores options to upgrade the national fleet.
Dr. Louis Zabaneh , Minister of Transport: “We’ve been meeting with our potential suppliers over the past three or four months. So there’s another potential supplier that is in country today. We listened to what they have, we explained what we need, and then we see what can be done in terms of them supplying what we need. There will be a tender process, hopefully within the next month or two that we’re going to be putting out to those potential suppliers. And then we make a decision on which one will have all the solutions for us, because it’s not just the buses, but it includes, for example, the cashless systems, the monitoring systems of cameras inside and outside the buses, the entire maintenance systems, all of those things go together. We’re going to be looking at all of that.”
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