National Bus Company Takes First Step Toward Modernizing Transit

The Advisory Committee National Bus Company convened its first official meeting today, signaling a major step forward in transforming Belize’s public transportation landscape. The committee is made up of diverse stakeholders, including government officials, private sector representatives, and bus operators, all tasked with guiding the development and implementation of the company. At the heart of today’s discussions was the move toward a more modern and efficient system, with the introduction of a cashless payment platform and enhanced security features on public buses. These upgrades aim to improve passenger experience, streamline fare collection, and boost overall safety. Minister of Transportation, Dr. Louis Zabaneh, explained to Love News what transpired in the inaugural meeting.

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport: “We want to ensure that  as we are developing the structure, as we are moving forward with the different components that will go into this new company that our stakeholders are there every step of the way so that they can share their inputs, they ca  give advice, they can share their perspectives, that by the time implementation kicks in on the 1st of January 2026 next year that we would have benefited from all of that rich input. We want to make sure that the product that we have for the Belizean people is the best that we could come up with. We gave them a  historical background of what we’ve done so far. Many of them have been the actual stakeholders we’ve met with individually. So we shared what occurred in the two large group meetings we had with the operators. We also shared the perspective of the operators.  We mentioned that operators have recently been signing on to the phase of auditing their operations being done by auditors that they themselves selected. So it’s not a government imposed auditor that will come to your company, but one that they had the inputs to decide on who would be in this group of auditors. So we discussed that part of it.  We discussed other components going forward. For example,  that the pilot project under UNDP, when the three buses that will now start to run the highways come on stream in the next few weeks, that we will be having a cashless system for the commuters to pay.”

Up to 22 operators have signed on to the company. Owner of Fu we Transport bus company, Oswin Blease, spoke about the important dialogue between the government and the operators. 

Oswin Blease, Owner, Fu We Transport: “I as an operator, right, and I can lend that support and I can share advice from how we as operators look at things. And from even the, not looking, but even the commuters that ride our buses and we get some of their concerns as well. So we are here, I am here on the board to lend that support to the process. Well I think fear is one of the main things, like I mean,  a change of status quo. And so for me I look at it from a business concept, from investing in something that will provide me with a pension down the road so I can sit at home and relax and benefit from  everybody’s little pinch right that now I can benefit from instead of me as a single company having to fight hard to sustain my operation and I believe that maybe a few,  another two years down the road, I will crumble and I will go into demise. But being a part of the national  company or the modernized company I will be able to sustain my operation through the partnership. And so for me, I will say to them that look at it this way’ it is not just your own and maybe things is going to end there. No, your life does not end. And I believe that just  reach out, consult more, get more advice if you need to and then come on board. But I see the benefits  right from the first beginning.”

Our newsroom understands that some nine bus operators are yet to sign on.