January 1 is target date for launch of new National Bus Company, and 15 of 31 independent bus operators are with it, but Belize Bus Association still has some concerns.

by William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. June 19, 2025

Belizeans deserve better bus service in line with international standards, which the National Bus Company will deliver when it begins operations in January 2026, said Minister of Constitutional & Religious Affairs, Indigenous Affairs and Transportation, Hon. Louis Zabaneh PhD, when he briefed the media at the Best Western Biltmore Plaza Hotel on Tuesday morning, June 17.

_{Hon. Louis Zabaneh PhD, Minister of Transportation}

The new company, according to Zabaneh, will propel the public transport industry into the 21st century, albeit with some resistance, as only 15 of the 31 independent bus companies have agreed to be a part of the new national company, which, based on the projections of the Transportation Ministry, will streamline and integrate their assets for greater profitability and better service. Those already on board include most of the operators in the west and south of the country, he said. There are 31 independent bus companies currently operating on Belize’s highways, but the organization they have collectively formed, the Belize Bus Association (BBA), has not embraced the ministry’s initiative, as BBA president Thomas Shaw expressed his misgivings publicly on Monday.

Minister Zabaneh has assured the operators that the Ministry will not force any operator to join the new company, and those who wish to continue to operate independently will be allowed to do so, under their existing road permits, as long as they meet the Ministry’s standards. They will have to provide the same level of service and accountability set by the national company, and the Ministry is raising the bar on the level of service that all must deliver. “We are ramping up our enforcement and rules,” Zabaneh said.

To get a clear picture of profitability, the ministry proposes to conduct a complete audit of all assets – buses, depots, and revenue streams—of all the companies who have agreed to integrate into the national company; as this is the only way they can establish a baseline of current earnings, and project what will be the anticipated profits for the owners in the new company. Each owner will be allotted shares in the company proportionate to the value of the assets they bring to the mix. The ministry needs the financials to be able to tell each participating bus owner what their share dividend earnings would be. While the current bus owners are accustomed to operate from hand to mouth based on the daily intake of fares, the new company would pay share owners a monthly dividend, based on the number of shares they would hold.

The proposed timeline is for the audit to be completed in July or August, so that by September, the proposal can be taken to Cabinet for further review. Then legislation will be drafted and brought to the National Assembly for approval. The goal is for the new company to be operational by next January.

Secure jobs—new professional standards

The new company does not propose to un-employ anyone; the ministry would do its best to find jobs for the existing staff of the operators in the new enterprise, but there will be some redundancies as the new company works to achieve economies of scale, such as centralized maintenance workshops, which would also have better tools and equipment and more highly trained mechanics than the current operators can afford.

The company will set new professional standards that the drivers and other workers will have to meet, to eliminate some of the abuses which have occurred in the past, Minister Zabaneh explained. All drivers will have to pass a driving test to prove their competence to be operating a bus on the road. Mandatory drug tests and sobriety tests will become the norm, as he alluded to the current practice of some irresponsible drivers who may indulge in alcoholic beverages and other habits, when their buses are parked at a turnaround point, even though they will have to drive their bus and passengers many more miles before their day is done.

The new company will be more profitable than the existing system, the Minister affirmed, because a ticketing system will also be implemented under which every passenger will have to have  a ticket, to eliminate some of the pilferage that is presently happening, where unscrupulous drivers and conductors take a share of the day’s fares, before they report their intake of revenue to the owner, who really has no way of determining whether he is receiving all the earnings from fares. By collecting all the revenue from fares without the current pilferage, the company would be able to increase profits without raising fares, Zabaneh suggested.

The new company is also expected to achieve much greater efficiency and reliability of service and security to passengers, by introducing technology which has been in operation in other countries for decades. There would be a tracking device on each bus, which would display icons on a screen showing a map of the entire country, so that the central depot can track their entire fleet, and know where each bus is located, in real time, the speed at which the bus is moving, and whether it is running on time. The company will operate both large 54-seater buses and smaller 30-seater buses, so that buses will not have to run half-empty or over-full; the number of tickets sold for a run would then determine the size of the bus assigned to a run, and if all the passengers can’t fit in a 54-seater, an additional smaller bus can be put into service to take the additional passengers, eliminating the need for standees. Every passenger would be guaranteed a seat.

According to the Ministry of Transportation’s plan, the new company would install surveillance cameras in each bus to monitor what is happening inside the bus, to know instantaneously of any incident or disruption while the bus is in service. This would also improve passengers’ safety, as it would eliminate speeding and the current practice of rival bus companies racing on the highways, as they compete to pick up passengers waiting by the roadside.

Upgrade to terminals

All this will be done without investing any of taxpayers’ money, but the Ministry is also proposing a Public Private Partnership, through which the government would invest in upgrades to infrastructure, particularly the terminals in Belize City, Orange Walk, San Ignacio and Punta Gorda. Presently, only out-district buses come into the Belize City terminal, while buses serving Ladyville and other villages in the Belize River Valley pick up their passengers on side streets. The Minister announced a plan to build a new Belize City bus terminal on land near Chetumal Street, which may mean that a traveler could pay a taxi fare to get to the terminal that would be higher than the bus fare they would pay to get to their out of town destination, unless the city buses include the new terminal on their routes. There will be a transitional phase, during which the existing terminals will be renovated, while the new ones are being built. This means better toilets, which have been a sore point for many travelers at the present terminals.

Much the same situation exists in Orange Walk Town, where the village buses park near the central market and only out-district buses go into the terminal. Not everyone is happy with the proposed site for a new terminal on the Yo Creek road, as it would inconvenience many travelers who are happy with the terminal’s present location. Some public consultation will be required to establish a consensus on the best location, that would serve both city and village buses. San Ignacio has no terminal; travelers simply gather by the Visitors Center to await a bus in all kinds of weather! Independent operators will have to pay a fee to use the new terminals.

Upgrading the bus fleet

Initially, the new company will begin operating with the existing Bluebird buses now running, but Minister Zabaneh proposed that these buses be sold off to the existing market for second-hand buses in Central America, and for the new company to replace them with Hyundai premier quality buses from South Korea. The XIM (Export-Import) Bank in South Korea offers financing at unbelievably low rates of 0.18 percent per year, with a 10-year grace period when the borrowed monies are used to fund the purchase of equipment manufactured in Korea for export. This giveaway financing would allow the National Bus Company to replace the old leaky Bluebirds, which are constantly breaking down, with 150 new buses in a few years.

Small bus operator Joel Armstrong, owner of Armstrong Bus Service, said he owns only 3 buses, but he fully supports the plan for a national company, as he sees greater security for himself and his drivers through the economies of scale to be achieved by the larger entity, with fewer mechanical breakdowns and greater reliability.