The safe, affordable movement of people from where they reside to where they work or go to school is an essential function of any government; thus, huge investments are made in roads, highways, and bridges that connect the cities, towns, and villages. In Belize the main mode of transportation for the commuting public is buses, and the Minister of Transport, Hon. Luis Zabaneh says that on a daily basis there are 150 of them in service along our main roadways.
Many commuters complain about our bus system. There are few bucket seats, and the cramped space on the buses (many that ply our highways are from retired school fleets abroad) get tighter during rush hours as bus owners fill the aisles on their buses with standees, in violation of the law. It is not for lack of trying by leaders of government why this essential service has not yet reached the standards of a modern country. The last government threatened to revoke bus licenses if operators didn’t put better buses on the routes, and many dipped into their reserves and leaned on overdrafts to comply. Still, the system remains substandard, compared to developed countries.
The conditions would improve considerably if government allowed for an increase in fares. But then the government would have to bring out the army to quell the riots that would certainly follow.
The 2025-2030 PUP government has declared that better is on the way, and it begins in January when a new bus company, the National Bus Company (NBC), takes over the transportation of commuters across the country. The Transport Minister says close to 50% of the 31 independent bus owners are in favor of the new model, the PPP (Private Public Partnership) that is being introduced.
This is the second attempt by a PUP government to restructure the bus industry. The 1998-2003 PUP government moved to bring the industry under a single private owner, but for a number of reasons that initiative collapsed. Since that failure, the industry has splintered; presently there are 31 bus owners, most of them small operators. The industry isn’t lucrative for the majority of them. The pandemic, and the severe erosion of the Belize dollar because of worldwide inflation, have cut into the profits of operators, many of whom stay in the industry with the vision that things will get better down the road.
The Minister of Transport envisions that the bold new initiative, the NBC funded through a PPP, will deliver improved services to commuters AND more profits for bus owners, without an increase in bus fares. He said an improved ticketing system and proper monitoring through the use of electronic devices – all buses would have surveillance cameras—will eliminate pilferage, which he suggested was a major drain on operators in the present system. The Minister said the industry would realize substantial savings through increased economies of scale. He said bulk buying of tires, mechanical parts, and fuel, and eliminating redundancies in the workforce, coupled with centralized maintenance workshops with better tools and equipment, and more highly trained mechanics, will all go toward reducing costs.
The UDP’s newspaper, the Guardian, said “at face value, it [public/private] sounds like an excellent and desirable plan”, but the party was leery because of the PUP’s track record of turning everything into a “hustle.” Former UDP leader/Belmopan area representative/government minister, John Saldivar, an economist, said in a social media commentary titled, “Consolidation of public transport can be a good thing if handled properly”, that the NBC could “be a win-win situation all around if handled properly,” and “the main contributors to its [the NBC] attractiveness are the benefits from economies of scale and managerial synergies.” He advised the owners and operators presently invested in the industry “to stay engaged and involved to safeguard their interests.”
This NBC proposal is a good thing already because the country is having a serious discussion about the way forward for public transportation. Never mind that the Minister effectively said it’s a done deal. The only done deal in Belize must be what Belizeans believe is the best deal for Belize. Commuters know what their priority is. Location is the main factor in selecting land; cost and reliability are the most important things for the majority of commuters. Only a few commuters, single men and women who have jobs that pay well, think of comfort, luxury, before they think about the fare.
The Minister has said that bus owners who don’t embrace the new model will not be forced off the road. But the way the project is being set up, it looks like the story from a book of tales from Mother Africa, where a monkey invited all his neighbors, including a turtle he didn’t like, to his birthday party, and when the feast was laid out, all the invitees received their food in a tall basket.
The Amandala said the Minister said that “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.” The Minister said, “in addition to ensuring that they meet the requirements to obtain and keep their permits”, operators who are not members of the NBC will be required to pay a fee to use bus terminals, which will be upgraded and owned by the new company.
Bus owners who are yet to buy in are weighing the potential of the new thing in town against the bird they have in hand. They would be entering an entirely new structure, one where they’d no longer be owners, but shareholders. For the smaller operators especially, if they buy in, they would have to guard against being gobbled up, because “bigger” fish are known to gobble up “littler” fish in businesses held in shares.
Bus owners are saying that the Minister and his advisors wouldn’t be presenting the benefits to be derived from the increased economies of scale as a clincher if they knew the real cost of running a bus on the highway. Bus owner, Froylan Gilharry said on the XTV WuB Show on Monday that the experts are ignoring the sweat equity – the cheap labor bus owners and their families put in to keep their money-earner on the highway.
Simple economics teaches that if one labors for oneself and their production doesn’t pay them the minimum wage, they should hire out their services. But that is logical only in a textbook. People might not want to hire out their services, or might not be qualified to take up available jobs. There are advantages in owning a business. Based on the textbook, there are many bankrupt businesses in Belize; but there is food on the tables of the bus owners, their children are going to school, and no bank is beating down their door.
The bus owners who are pushing back on the NBC say the initiative is too costly. The Ministry of Transport says the spanking new buses it plans to introduce will be phased in, over a period of two or three years. The bus owners have offered an alternative to the NBC, and have also indicated that they continue to study the government’s plan. The Ministry of Transport says that come January the NBC will be rolling across the highways.
Commuters can’t wait for a better bus service, at the same or even a reduced fare.