Ride air-conditioned buses in the City for $2

On Thursday night we reported that the Novelo brothers are now running the Belize Diesel buses, formerly operated by Lopez Shuttle in Belize City.  The brothers have formed a new company called Arrow Line which uses the buses to provide an air-conditioned ride in the West Landivar/Downtown route.  But the new run comes with its price, double for every passenger, including children.  So, while the other regular runs throughout the city still cost a dollar, Arrow Line’s fares are now two dollars for adults and a dollar for students in school uniform.  But while many commuters welcome the idea, there are two irritants: that they were not informed before the new price kicked in and whether or not a bus company could introduce a new run with a new price.  While Arrow Line’s Spokesperson, Philip Jones says the company has submitted and gotten approval for the run, Traffic Manager, Kevan Jenkins told News Five that he was not aware of any such proposal or approval.  But today, Councilor responsible for Traffic, Dean Samuels, clarified that the run is legal but the public needs to be made aware of any new prices beforehand.

Dean Samuels, Councilor for Traffic

Dean Samuels

“It’s not illegal once they keep the regular prices buses running on the same route, the original buses at the original price of dollar running on the same route.  It’s optional if people want to take that service, the new service that they are offering right now.”

Marion Ali

“The public grew upset this week because they were not made aware of the issue, it was not publicized, it was not even written on the buses, no press release came from either the Council or the company itself to say, listen, you have an option now, you can make your choices.”

Dean Samuels

“I agree with that.  I think it could have been handled differently.  I think it should have been publicized to let people know that they have an option to take the deluxe or the regular bus, so I have to agree with you on that.  It could have been handled better.  For future references let it be known that people have the option that if they want to take that service or if they want to ride the regular bus, it’s their choice.  Since this incident occurred, what we can do now, that definitely will be a policy on the road service permit, making sure that road service providers inform the public beforehand when they’re going to do something like this.”

As you saw during the interview, today the buses offering the air-conditioned run did have the new price clearly displayed on their windshield.