Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport
"So we met today with all the bus operators who service our national highways. So about 31 operators here today and some of them brought their other members of the organisations and we wanted to first introduce ourselves, have a conversation with them and in the first instance make it clear that we have lots of issues in the sector and that we intend to solve these problems but we need to work together I think that was the central message. I also shared with them a vision that have which I shared with cabinet on Tuesday and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by the very good reception we got for this concept and during the next four weeks we will be travelling and meeting with them in their particular districts to continue that conversation and once we get full support for that we will go back to cabinet and then make that arrangement for this transformation of the sector."

It's not a cheap industry to function in, and the money has to come from somewhere for them to keep up with the quality and standards needed for a bus to be fit for the road. Zabaneh says they can get so much done by forming a public private partnership

Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport
"And so if we have all the operators come together, agree and we form a company, we also include the terminals we have an evaluation of the entire sector daily using an independent auditor, determine their values within the sector we have the option that they will get to either take that value as shares in the company or a portion of it in the company or get paid out completely that will be their decision we have a company that is national now and one company can hire a highly qualified administrative team that supervises by a board and that then we are able to take care of many of the issues in that regard, the scheduling which is a huge problem where we have in some cases a lot of demand but few equipment or a lot of equipment and no demand so there is mismatch, those things can be resolved and we have as a public private arrangement where the company gets concessions from the government you can buy in bulk a company like that, get' its tires gets it's fuel gets all the inputs that have caused a very high cost industry to be barely making it and so they can not reinvest in their equipment right now but one single company that they own can now have economies a scale by all if these inputs, get lower costs and be able to do much better."

And in his new role as CEO, Chester Williams says that the Commuters are one of the most important stakeholders in this industry and must be taken into consideration. He adds that if the operators do not have the capabilities to provide that service at a standard then they will not be given permits.

Chester Williams, CEO Ministry of Transport
"Commuters are paying for a service and these people have the ability to provide that service, we must ensure that it is provided in the most professional and humane way possible, to see buses on our highways that are dirty, buses where we can see the street from the flooring of the bus, buses where if it rains passengers get wet, it cannot continue we must do better and so in a short term we are looking at improving what currently exists by doing spot checks and more enforcement nd as minister has said on the longer term is what minister has explained earlier in terms of the PPP, process."

"Those conditions are placed behind the road service permit for a reason, it is placed there because we want to ensure that the recipient of those permits adhere to the law and what needs to be done to provide quality services to our people and so what they need to understand is that we are not going to be too hard and fast in terms of revoking licenses or permits but if the inspection is done, and the inspections reveals a breach of a condition what we have directed is that the CTO is going to override the bus owner and say to them we inspected your bus on so and so date and this is one fraction that we saw and then perhaps give a warning, and then perhaps maybe after 2 or three warnings then we move to the other level in terms of suspending your permit until you can do better. Again if we hold these bus owners accountable we will get better service out of them."

We also spoke to one of the most senior members in the industry, Mr Thomas Shaw who says while they are open to the idea of working with their new minister and CEO all they ask is that things are done in a manner which is fair.

Thomas Shaw, President, Belize Bus Association
"Its just in the preliminary stage where as it's our first consultation we still have to go back to our membership it sounds good I support the initiative because I think by forming a company I think that would eliminate most of the problems and the hurdles that we have been facing throughout the years, just as I said as time progresses whatever has been discussed I think it has to be legislated to give operators that assurance that their investment will not go uncounted for due to the fact that we know from government to government and government changes you find out that we keep changing the goal post and we invent other things so that would be the main concern right now by the bus operators, but I spoke to some of my members briefly and they go for it but as I said we still yet have to have a meeting within our membership to see where we go from there."

"It's so sad to know that it took them so long to recognise that this is an industry because all the other industries were recognised and subsidised so if this industry were subsidised we wouldn't be where we are at right now and to be honest with you they should have treated it the way they treated the sugar industry, the way they treated the citrus but in the past what has been taking place whenever we bring up certain things it's an argument between both parties and we don't want that, we want to discontinue that. And as I said we are here to work we are not here in bitterness to actually say well we are not in agreement with what we are doing we are here to listen and see how we can better and provide a better system out there for the commuters."

No follow up meeting has yet been scheduled...