Commuters protest bus fare hikes
On Wednesday a group of Orange Walk students visited various media houses to protest changes occurring in the bus service to Belize City. Although the owner of Venus, which recently bought out Escalante and Urbina’s bus companies, Froylan Gilharry told News Five he could not afford to keep the rates these two were charging, the bus riding public it seems was not buying the explanation. This morning they staged a protest. The following footage was provided by Centaur Cable Network of Orange Walk.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Getting into and out of Orange Walk Town was impossible this morning as a large group of daily bus commuters blocked the highway by the toll bridge at the entrance to the town.
The crowd was protesting the increase of prices by Venus Bus Lines. The company recently bought Escalante and Urbina’s bus lines and has increased their rates to meet normal Venus rates. The price went up by $1.75 more.
Marcel Cardona
“We are all annoyed at this entire situation, right. We have representation here for exactly what the demands of you all are. We are trying to make this representation be heard by Government and by the Ministry of Transport. Because we definitely are not happy with this situation whereby prices have suddenly skyrocketed from $2.80, lets say Escalante’s, to $4.50, for one ride on a Venus bus–one ride–and that is even standing ladies and gentlemen. So what is happening, is that we are going to send representation to Belmopan. At this moment, I believe that the entire nation already knows what the situation is here in Orange Walk. How discontented the people of Orange Walk are with this situation and we are going to give Venus bus service an ultimatum as to when they ought to comply with the demands of the people.”
Crowd Singing
“We shall not be moved, just like a tree that’s planted by the water, we shall me moved…”
During the protest, the police tried to disperse the crowd by attempting to drive their vehicle through, but the plan quickly backfired.
Although there was a lot of hard talking, the demonstration was mostly peaceful. However one man, Carlos Grajalez was detained after things got a little out of hand. By afternoon the demonstration had ended and meeting was scheduled to take place with all parties involved to try and solve the problem.
This afternoon, a meeting in Belize City resulted in a settlement of the issue when Venus agreed to establish four pick-up points in Orange Walk in the early morning and a shuttle service between these points. Three student express buses will be provided for students and drop them off at several key locations in Belize City. There will be return service in the afternoon. There will also be express buses for workers. Student pass prices will go back to $24.00 per week. The management of Venus is reported to have apologized for the inconvenience caused to passengers during the disruption of service and promised that there would be no price increases without consultation in the future. The Department of Transport will monitor the situation. Acting Prime Minister Johnny Briceno and Minister of Transport Henry Canton attended the meeting with the management of Venus and people representing the commuters from Orange Walk.
