More chaos in transportation industry

The Ministry of Transport’s rescheduling and zoning of the commercial bus industry was supposed to alleviate the problem of overcrowding. But as we found out yesterday morning, exactly three weeks after the new system was implemented, overcrowding is still a problem. A News Five team took to the Northern Highway between seven and eight-thirty yesterday morning and found quite a few overloaded buses. And as far as traffic officers, there was none in sight to enforce the laws.

Marion Ali, Reporting
Even though the Transport Department has incorporated Northern route buses into the revamped National Transportation structure, we still found that there was overcrowding and non-enforcement between Ladyville and Belize City at peak time.

This Waight’s bus en route to Belize City was clearly overloaded as it stopped around seven-ten yesterday morning at Belama Phase One to let off a passenger.

Whether or not school buses are a part of the new system, this one was also clearly ram-packed from front to back with standees…as was another one that immediately followed.

At seven-fourteen, this bus marked Ladyville and belonging to Skai’s Bus Service had passengers, mostly students, even seated on the bus engine as one lady made her way out.

Nine minutes later, this bus belonging to Tillett’s Bus Line carried another overcrowded load to Ladyville.

There were other overcrowded buses that our camera could not keep up with, such as this one belonging to Chell’s Bus Line which zipped past us…and this unnamed blue bus heading towards Belize City.

You get the point by now, the new bus system still lacks cohesion and enforcement. But when we checked with Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Transportation, Colonel George Lovell yesterday evening, he said there are enforcement officers tasked with ensuring that drivers adhere to the regulations. In fact, he said there are two types of enforcement officers – terminal managers and traffic officers. But in the case of the northern route, the only two existing terminals are the one at the point of embarkation in Corozal Town and the other at the point of disembarkation in Belize City, with no intermediary. As for traffic officers, there was none in sight. But Colonel Lovell did say the Ministry will look into the matter and see why that problem exists. We’ll continue to monitor. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.

Meanwhile, the Belize City Council’s Traffic Department will begin to take corrective measures to alleviate further traffic congestion on the City streets. These measures include a final written warning to be served on bus owners who park on the streets. As of next Monday, bus owners who fail to comply with the parking regulations will be served with a final written warning. The following Monday, those who fail to comply will be served with tickets. The measures follow a meeting held in October between the Traffic Department and bus operators, when suggestions were made to the bus owners to use alternate parking facilities, such as the Marion Jones Stadium, the Pound Yard compound, and approved private properties.