May 12, 2008
Dear Editor,
On Sunday, May 11, after finishing work in Belize City at 5:00 p.m., I prepared to go up to San Ignacio. I arrived at the bus station at 6:00 p.m. I am very much aware that the last bus leaves Belize City at 7:00 p.m. en route to Benque Viejo Del Carmen.
I was pretty much desperate to get home, as I was not feeling too well. On of the green buses belonging to the Belize Bus Owners Cooperation had arrived around 6:20 p.m. and was heading back to Belmopan and had offered to take passengers. As anyone would do, I decided to take that offer.
About almost an hour out of Belize City, the bus broke down; this was near St. Mathew’s Village. The few passengers in the bus waited for a while, then decided to go out to see if they could get a ride to their destination. The bus did manage to start again and the others passengers and I got back in, but after climbing a hill, it broke down again.
At this time, we were all pretty much aware that the last bus, a National Transport, would be passing shortly, so we all stood on the side of the highway. We signaled for the bus to stop, but it just flew past. I thought to myself, there goes my last chance to get home to San Ignacio.
Two other passengers and I decided to walk to the nearest lit area. A woman had just flown past us, driving a white vehicle, not sure what brand, but I believe it was a Prado. She went a short distance, then shortly after, she turned around and came back to offer us a ride into to Belmopan, where we could try and meet the National Transport. She said she knew that we were passengers from the bus.
As we sped on, we were approaching Belmopan and were on the lookout for the National Transport bus. We encountered it on Forest Drive. I bid the kind woman thanks and farewell as we raced to get into the bus.
All I could think of at that time was to ask the conductor why they did what they did. Why they ignored our desperate signaling for them to stop? I asked him and he could only say that the bus we were on, the green bus, left ahead of schedule and that’s the reason why he did not stop. I told him that we are passengers and we are not in the wrong; all he did was said he was sorry, with the impression that that was not his concern.
I found this situation to be quite ridiculous and aggravating. Had it not been for the kind hearted woman, God bless her, I don’t know where I would be today. I could have been killed along with the other passengers waiting there in the dark. I have no idea how those other passengers got home. I strongly believe that the National Transport bus should have stopped, despite the situation; we were all just trying to get home.
Anyone who is in a hurry, as we all were, would have jumped at the first opportunity that arose. This just goes to show that the bus operators don’t really care about their passengers at all.
Imagine the country of Belize waking up this morning to the news that 10 people were robbed and shot or stabbed to death just outside St. Mathew’s Village. In this day and age, anything is possible with the kind of society we are living in.
Sometimes, we have no idea how our bitterness towards others affect innocent people. Something needs to be done about the situation of the bus company, and it needs to be addressed fast.
Please withhold my name, because I have to ride the bus.