GOB Warns Public Transportation Sector of New Bus Standards

Thomas Shaw

We also spoke with the President of the Belize Bus Association about the new standards for public transportation that were made public today via a Government Press Office release. The release notes that road service permits will be approved for three different types of buses. Type A will be issued to premier services with buses no older than ten years. Type B will be given to economy buses no older than twenty years, while type C permits will be issued to rural buses no older than twenty-five years. According to the release, the current fleet will be modernized by an average of twelve years through the enhancement. It was also noted that operators are expected to update fifty percent of their fleet by December 2023 and fully upgrade their entire fleet by the end of 2024.

On the Phone: Thomas Shaw, President, B.B.A.

“That again is something that has been going on but the consultant come in and didn’t make no recommendation for operators to have fifty percent of their fleet by 2023. That was told to me verbally last month meeting, tell mih operators x,y,z. Now in reality if you want the operators to go in that direction, you need to do what you have to do. You need to empower your operators by doing the same thing you are doing for that big bus company; you need to do that for small operators. They took us to the National Bank and the manager said; yes I could lend you the money. But, if they do that they need a seat at the board. They denied that so National Bank kept it moving. They said if you want the money you have to have the e-wallet and people has to use the e-wallet and they have to see how much money you are making in order to see if you can pay back the loan. So that is a dead dog you are beating. It is too much of your business they want to know. Operators are not in agreement with that.”