B.B.A. and Transport Ministry Meet Common Ground on Bus Dispute
Earlier this week, the Belize Bus Association issued an ultimatum to the Department of Transport that was sure to result in strike action had those demands not been met. Tonight there is good news to report as both parties have met to negotiate and agree on certain conditions. Plans for the burning of tires on the highways have since been set aside. This comes about following a meeting this afternoon between a team from the Ministry of Transport and the executive of the B.B.A. On Monday, bus operators called for the immediate removal of Byron Sanchez, Chairman of the Transport Board, within seventy-two hours for allegedly making single-handed decisions without the board’s knowledge. Today, cooler heads prevailed and following the meeting, the Minister of Transport and the association exited in obvious pleasant moods. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The meeting which lasted roughly three and a half-hours, clearly ended on a positive note, but with set agreements on the part of the Ministry of Transport and the association. Thomas Shaw, President of the Belize Bus Association, shared with the media some of the main points on which both parties agreed.
Thomas Shaw
Thomas Shaw, President, Belize Bus Association
“We came up to an agreement of which I told them that even though we were in there having these meetings, I want to see a press release this evening. I want it in black and white because I don’t want us to discuss something in there and then somewhere down the road, they change the goalpost. Okay, so with that said, we were asking to have the guy from the bank have a seat on the board. They agreed to that. We also explained to him the way how the transport board is set up. I let him know that the minister, the CEO, shouldn’t be in our meetings. He agreed to restructure the board. He did agree to that because that’s one of the main problems. We also asked him for the removal of the, the chairman. After a long deliberation, we agreed that the chairman will be put on six months probation.”
Minister of Transport Rodwell Ferguson explained that there will be dire consequences for the chairman of the Transport Board, against whom allegations were made that he was making unilateral decisions that primarily benefited Floralia Bus Line.
Rodwell Ferguson
Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport
“We are going to get a chairman six months probation. If he doesn’t improve, then we will have to ask him to leave, but so far we have agreed that he gets six months as the chairman of the board.”
Thomas Shaw
“He’s going to call him in and let me know that he has to discontinue what he was doing, which – he has to discontinue this behavior because he’s the one that is actually making these decisions behind the board’s back.”
Among the demands made by the B.B.A was that it needed some form of assurance to take to its lending institution for the loans needed to upgrade the existing fleets of buses. Minister Ferguson explained that there’s some breakthrough in that area as well.
Rodwell Ferguson
“Yesterday I went to the National Bank and spoke with Mr Castillo and said let’s have a meeting today to figure how we can come to terms and how we can provide some kind of financial support to the bus operators. And so he agreed that he will continue with the E-Wallet to also create a ticket system that the bank collects all the funds if they agree to lend them a loan and then there’ll be a profit-share at the end of the day. So I’m saying every day, once we create a system, the money should be collected, the bank gets its percentage, they get their percentage, and then you move on from there. James Bus Line already has a ticketing system, so it will be extended to all the busses across the. We agree that within six months we are going to only have two bus companies: two in the South, two in the North, two in the West.”
Reporter
“Where does Floralia land in these?”
Rodwell Ferguson
“Two bus companies, okay? Two south, two north, two west. And when those bus companies are from, then they will run in different directions, so we got to mitigate the risks on the highways. Everybody should be friends and working together.”
Marion Ali
“And what happens to the other bus companies that exist now?”
Rodwell Ferguson
“They will be a part of those companies. So the west, I think, will start the first pilot because they almost have it together and they’ll have two companies running from the west as running in different directions. So there will be no competition.”
What will be interesting to see is how the fifty plus bus operators in northern Belize will merge into two companies to offer the services needed in that part of the country.
Rodwell Ferguson
“If it is two companies, then they will determine how many buses they need to put within their time. So everybody should be able to get a seat on the bus.”
Reporter
“But what if Floralia is the only bus available, let’s say, for the south at that specific time when somebody needs to catch it – and charging more?”
Rodwell Ferguson
“Right now, the government regulates the price for buses. So once we put the regulation, everybody will follow suit. Remember we have tier one, tier two, and tier three. Tier one is premier one, depends on the year bus that you bring. We have the tier two, which is economy run, so it might be a little less price to ride the economy, but a better price to ride the premiere.”
Reporter
“Do you think that Floralia will be on board with these changes?”
Rodwell Ferguson
“Of course, of course! Everybody has to be on board. It’s a precedent that we’re going to set.”
Marion Ali
“Have they been a part of these meetings?”
Rodwell Ferguson
“This is only the B.B.A. who controls the majority of operators in the country, except Floralia. I think they want to be a part of the B.B.A likewise.”
As part of the agreement the two parties reached today, the National Bank of Belize, which is the lending institution that will likely finance the investments that the bus operators will make will also have a seat on the Transport Board. Marion Ali for News Five.
