Three Months Later, Still No E-Buses Running  

It’s been three months since the first e-bus arrived in Belize and the fanfare that accompanied that arrival has not followed through with the scheduled rollout of the pilot project. Since then, a second e-bus has arrived in country. The Belize City Council will oversee two buses running city routes and, prior to the municipal elections, was planning those routes, as well as a media tour. But there’s been no finalization of that plan and the forty-seven-passenger maximum capacity buses are still parked today. This morning, News Five asked the Minister of Transport, Rodwell Ferguson for an update on the e-buses. He said that the Belize City operations will begin shortly, and that more e-buses will arrive for the long-awaited western and northern routes.

 

Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport

“Operations will start early in June. As a matter of fact, I’m having a management meeting tomorrow to decide exactly what date. Operation will start in Belize City in particular. It will be a special route for the E-buses to run in Belize City, and then hopefully by July, August, three more will come in to run on the Northern Highway and likewise on the Western Highway. That is the beginning of E-buses in the country of Belize. We are now negotiating with the European Union through the UNDP. Hopefully within a year or two we should get another 46 EV buses to run across the highway. So I’m quite sure that this is the beginning, and while we have some buses on the highway that are inadequate, now I have to have a little bit of caution and be conscious of the people because if I put pressure on them to get brand new buses now, then by 2030 the world is going EV. So we’re hopeful that we can facilitate them through grant funding and partial payment by them to be able to participate in this new dimension.”

 

Reporter

“What do you know about customers being able to reserve seats on the bus? Is this allowed?

 

Rodwell Ferguson

“I know Floralia has a system in place, I think James also has a system in place, and hopefully, once the ministry gets its ticketing system, then customers will be able to reserve seats across the country, and buses, when the bus come, they’ll have your seat for you.”

 

Reporter

“So you can reserve seats?”

 

Rodwell Ferguson

“Yes, you can reserve seats.”