Belize Bus Association Seeks Help; Transport Minister Draws the Line
With diesel prices climbing and pressure mounting, Belize’s bus operators have taken their concerns straight to the table, asking government to step in before costs push the industry to breaking point. The Belize Bus Association has now officially outlined its proposals, hoping for relief as fuel expenses continue to eat into their bottom line. But today, the government drew some clear lines. Minister of Transport Dr. Louis Zabaneh responded to the operators’ appeal, laying out what solutions are being considered, and which ones are firmly ruled out. While talks are still ongoing, the minister made one assurance that will matter most to commuters across the country: bus fares will not be going up.
Louis Zabaneh
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport
“Yes we intend to respond to them. I received it I believe late Monday evening. And we received it and I have shared the content of the letter with Cabinet. Right after the easter we will do more discussion and I have a formal response with them. WE certainly already said we are not contemplating the third suggestion which is to raise fares, simply because our commuters are already under stress. So we have to eliminate that one. The other ones we will need to have more discussion, they are asking for subsidies or exemptions on fuel, both of those will be difficult. With respect to the National Bus Company, we are benefiting from economies of scale which we shared with them, that one you have a larger operation you can buy in bulk, which gives discount, when you purchase fuel, tires etc. and that will allow the National Bus Company to function even with these higher diesel prices.”
Transport Minister: Economies of Scale Separate Survivors from Strugglers
And the Minister also had a response to concerns about fairness. Addressing claims that government support for the National Bus Company puts independent operators at a disadvantage, Transport Minister Dr. Louis Zabaneh pushed back, saying it comes down to choices. He stressed that operators who decide to go it alone also take on the full weight of that decision, especially when it comes to rising fuel costs. According to the minister, economies of scale play a major role in staying afloat, and those benefits don’t come automatically when you operate independently.
Louis Zabaneh
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport
“I think it is for them, they have made a decision to operate independently as sole operators and that is fine. On many occasions we discussed the benefits of joining the company. I think they are still struggling with the basic concept of economies of scale. I don’t know if it is a big terms, but it is really simple. in the industry the larger bus companies were already benefiting from some economies of scale, because the bigger companies like Westline and James can buy in bulk. And that is a principle that is very basic. If they decide they wish to be independent then that comes with certain responsibilities.”
Reporter
“Do you think that with that independence, the Government is obligated to assist them?”
Dr. Louis Zabaneh
“The National Bus Company is not asking for bus fare increase or any subsidy on fuel, so the government is not doing anything that is unjustified, for example doing something for NBC that it not doing for them, so that argument would not hold any water at all.”
Paul Lopez
“But it now looks as if the ministry of transporting is competing with intendent bus owners, you all are miles ahead in terms of the amount of resources you can access.”
Dr. Louis Zabaneh
“The National Bus Company has not received anything more than the facilitation to form the company. The investment of the government in the company are the terminals as we have said before. And as you know those have been in deplorable condition for many years. And now with NBC, we are improving terminals and planning to build new terminals.”
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