Bus Fares Increase, but Bus Upgrades Also Coming
As we reported earlier this week, bus fares from district to district will be increased by a dollar maximum, if you are going further than twenty-five miles and take a bus that is heading directly to your destination. But if you need to catch two different buses to take you to where you’re going, the price you pay will go up by more than that dollar. The new fares come as part of an improved transportation system that the Ministry of Transport is introducing. Marion Ali spoke with President of the Belizean Bus Association today and filed a report on the changes.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The price increases that bus operators got from the government was just a fraction of what they were asking for, so the government offered the bus operators a subsidy to ease the burden.
Thomas Shaw
Thomas Shaw, President, Belizean Bus Association
“Initially when we went to – in our consultations, when we had discussed the bus fares, when it went to Cabinet, when they looked at it, in some areas you’d be seeing an increase as much as maybe three dollars, which would have been a bit hard on commuters. So they gave us a fuel subsidy for the next six months. That cut half of the expense that would be going to the commuters.”
The way the new price hike is calculated is as follows: passengers traveling to locations within a twelve-mile distance will pay twenty-five cents more than what the current price is; those going anywhere between thirteen and twenty-five miles will pay fifty cents more; and people going further than twenty-five miles will pay a dollar more than what they are currently paying. These prices are for regular and express runs. But when travelers will pay two dollars more is if they have to change buses midway to reach their destinations, as Shaw explained.
Thomas Shaw
“More than likely the commuter will have to pay that leg because it’s not one bus company. If it was the same company that was going to Dangriga then there would just do a transfer.”
Shaw said that with the new bus permits they will receive that will be valid for up to ten years, it places a responsibility on bus operators as well to upgrade their fleet of buses.
Thomas Shaw
“The regulating body which is the government, they issue the permits and at the same time the Association could say this is what – and I sit on the Board as well – so whenever we have meetings I let the operators know what is coming: if you guys do not really meet the demands, you will be left behind.”
Marion Ali
“Then is when the permits can be revoked?”
Thomas Shaw
“The permits would be revoked; the permits can be revoked but there’s no way somebody would give you a contract and revoke it a week after. So you have to bring in the buses first, then you’ll be getting that permit. They won’t give you the permit before you have the bus.”
Marion Ali
“How real is it that these buses will be here by December?”
Thomas Shaw
“Well, it’s a phasing out period. The Minister said June then they extended it till December, but it’s not the snap of a finger. Everything takes time and it will be a phasing out – you start creeping then you start walking. After December, maybe it can push on even further into 2023.”
Shaw said when the new system is in place, overcrowding will also be addressed.
Thomas Shaw
“We have the biggest operator in the south, which is James Bus Line; he has been working on a program the same as the new bus company, Floralia. They have these machines where you can buy a ticket online where you cannot sell more than what the bus capacity – if the capacity is forty – you cannot sell more than the bus is supposed to carry. So all of that is in place but when it comes to that it’s a progress. And he says he’s been working on this for years and he’s almost at the point now where he can actually put it out there where you don’t actually have to go to the terminal to buy a ticket. You can buy it online.”
When that system comes on stream, there will still be ticket sales at the terminals for passengers who are unable to purchase their tickets online. Shaw said the new system will also eliminate overcrowding. Marion Ali for News Five.
