Greener Transport; Electric Buses for Belize City

Bernard Wagner

One of the projects coming on stream this summer is the arrival of four electric buses.  The proposed plan is for them to park near Battlefield Park, and programmed to give riders up to the minute updates on arrival times at specific stops.  But does this push out city shuttles, which have been operating for years? While it will generate revenue for the council, Mayor Wagner says it’s just a greener option being added to the routes.

Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor

“We are also looking at our green city, our green transit. Those buses are supposed to be here. It is an EU funded project; it’s a grant fund that would put some electric buses in the city as well as on the road in June. I have been speaking with the UNDP, they are the project manager, and they have indicated to us that those buses will be in the country June, latest the third quarter. We will not chase them out of town. The people will have the option to choose which bus you wanna ride. And if you provide a reliable, efficient and effective bus service, the people have the right to choose which bus they want to ride. And our electric buses will be a modern bus. We are looking to establish the bus stop here in front of Battlefield Park. The four buses is a pilot project funded by the EU and what we will do from that is gather the necessary data and how these buses run in this climate, how they run on these roads, how the loop is working; what is the time factor in the loop and from that we will be able to put that model in a Jane Usher model, in a King’s Park model. So we are looking in the neighbourhood of sixteen buses eventually in the city.”