By William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)
BELIZE CITY, Wed. Oct. 15, 2025
Minister of Constitutional, Religious Affairs and Transportation, Hon. Louis Zabaneh, PhD, announced to the media at the Best Western Biltmore Plaza Hotel on Friday afternoon, October 10, that 21 of the 31 independent bus operators in the country are on board with the Ministry of Transportation’s plan to establish a National Bus Company, which will set a new standard in public transportation when it begins operations in January 2026. The 21 operators have also agreed to complete a thorough audit of their assets, which will determine their percentage share in the new company,
The 21 operators represent 71 percent of the bus transportation industry, and the audit of their respective assets and cash flow will form the baseline for the opening balance sheet of the new company. The audit will determine all liabilities for a prospectus of the new company, which will include the consolidated value of the participating companies, the value of the Government’s contribution in the value of the nationwide network of bus terminals, which the government plans to renovate and upgrade, as well as the monetary value of other investments, such as those made by the Social Security Board. The Ministry is moving expeditiously forward to a January 1 commencement of operations, Minister Zabaneh said.
After the audit, the next step is for the Attorney General’s ministry to draft a legal document containing the contract between all partners of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), and the draft legislation to form the company will then be vetted by the Ministry of Economic Transformation and the Prime Minister’s Office, before it is submitted to Cabinet for review and approval. Eventually, it will be brought to Parliament to be passed into law. The reason the government is entering into a PPP, Minister Zabaneh explained, is that the government wants to improve the service to the customer – the Belizean commuter, but it does not wish to nationalize the privately owned companies.
The national company will borrow from the experience gained in operating electrically powered buses in Belize City, through the pilot project sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the inter-district e-buses now being operated by Westline. The 21 participating companies will bring close to 150 diesel-powered buses to the company, and this number would be 200 buses if all 31 companies were participating. But the new company plans to upgrade the standard of service to commuters by replacing these old, smoky-exhaust clunkers, with new, more energy-efficient buses, some of which may be electric.
The new national company will also draw from the Belize City Council’s experience gained in the use of the digital fare payment card, by introducing a new, digital, Belize Public Transport Ridership Card, to which travelers may add credit at the terminal or online. The passenger would then simply swipe the card to pay his or her fare, and the system will greatly reduce the possibility of “leakage” between the fares the bus conductor collects and what he turns into his employers, as existing bus operators recognize that they may be losing profits through “leakage” when fares are collected using a cash system.
The Ministry of Transport is already in contact with bus manufacturers in the Republic of China on Taiwan, the United States, Brazil and Europe to determine what is available at what cost, to determine what would be the best new model of bus to acquire to start building the new fleet, Zabaneh explained. The final decision will be based on whether the manufacturer can help build a proper maintenance facility for their buses, with the training of Belizean service personnel, and the best financing package the company can offer through export-incentive banks, which offer concessionary loans to export buyers. The new national company will also invite investors to buy into the company’s equity shares, to earn dividends from the profits.
The decision on whether the new company will acquire more e-buses hinges on whether the company can get grant financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environmental Fund (GEF), or some other international funding agency promoting renewable energy, as the capital investment to buy e-buses is 4 times what it would cost to purchase equivalent buses powered by petroleum fuels. The savings are realized through the e-buses’ lower operational costs, which are a quarter of that for traditional, internal combustion engine buses.
Along with the new bus fleet will come a scheduling reform to address the “race to the bottom’ in quality of service that has occurred since the 1980s, when excess competition led to different operators being issued road permits with conflicting schedules, which leads to a race with each other to compete for passengers, while the travelers suffer. Minister Zabaneh applauded the way passengers on the new e-buses have been protecting the bus stops en route, since the designation of the bus stops enhances the efficiency of service to all users, as opposed to the present “bread bus” system, where buses stop at almost every door.
Better service will come with the better enforcement that the ministry intends to implement, Chief Executive Officer Chester Williams explained. The Department of Transport is in the process of hiring more manpower for longer highway patrols, even at night, to ensure that all drivers adhere to the law. The department will no longer allow overlapping bus schedules, Williams promised, as buses will not be allowed to arrive at the terminal late, as part of a strategy to depart at a time that would overlap with the next bus run. When a bus arrives at the terminal late, their scheduled run will automatically be cancelled, as the rules require the operators to arrive at the terminal at least 15 minutes before their scheduled departure time, Williams clarified.
As of October 15, all bus tickets sold must have a seat number, so that each passenger who purchases a ticket is guaranteed a seat. The new rules will criminalize the forbidden practice of riding the bus without a ticket; passengers are thus advised to demand their ticket when they pay their fare on the bus.
One of the improvements in service will include the establishment of a new Belize City terminal which is projected to be built on Chetumal Street. This could lead to the incongruity of travelers having to pay a higher taxi fare to get to the bus terminal, than the bus fare that they will pay! Williams said there are plans in the design to introduce designated bicycle parking space, similar to those seen at train stations in Amsterdam.
Not all independent operators are on board with the national company, and the 10 standouts will continue to operate their road permits independently, so long as they comply with the law regarding new safety and ticketing standards, Minister Zabaneh allowed. The Belize Bus Association’s new president, Phillip Jones asserts that the association still represents all bus operators, and most operators are participating in the audit process, but they are still sitting on the fence about integrating into the new company.
A month ago, the Belize Bus Owners Association had called on the ministry to revisit and re-evaluate the award of the 3 electric buses, a gift from the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme, which were all allocated to Westline Bus Co. They had been laboring under the misconception that the new e-buses were to be distributed to different operators across the country, so that travelers in the north, west and south might all get to experience the economy and comfort of the new e-buses, and so that the bus companies might learn about the electric bus technology. They argued that it was unfair for one operator to be so favored, to the disadvantage of the others. The ministry responded with a press release saying that the e-buses were put out to public tender, and Westline came in with the winning bid. End of discussion!
(AMANDALA Ed. Note: That Chetumal Street bus terminal sounds a bit problematic. It hearkens back to the plans a few decades ago for a new bus terminal at the then city owned Pound Yard property, which would have served the convenience of individual travelers as well as small farmers/vendors bringing their produce to market.)
