Get ready Belize City, the new E-buses will finally take to the streets on Monday! Earlier today, the Belize City Council, the United Nations Development Programme, and other government ministries officially launched the E-bus service in the downtown area. The ushering in of this environmentally-friendly mode of transportation aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and comes as a green alternative to public transportation. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The introduction of electric buses to the local public transportation landscape has been long in the making. It was part of a campaign promise leading up to the second term of the Wagner administration at City Hall. A pair of e-buses eventually came into the country earlier this year, just ahead of the March municipals. Today, they were officially welcomed on the streets of the Old Capital.
Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor
“Today, I am so excited being able to see this new transformative effort in the transportation system coming to fruition. That is enough for me. It will be transformative for the residents of the city, that is the key area here, the impact, the positive impact that it will have on our residents.”
Michel Chebat, Minister of Energy
“As you know, we have an obligation to reduce our carbon footprints. We just experienced a major concern with Hurricane Beryl, thank God it didn’t hit Belize. But as you all know, the effects of climate change is really drastic and so these buses are low carbon emission buses, contrary to the ones we have running, and so the expectation is that it will contribute positively towards our environment and quality of air, and low carbon emissions.”
Taheerah Usher, Project Manager, U.N.D.P.
“Another key milestone includes the development of a cohesive low carbon transport electro-mobility strategy in 2023 which assesses the short to medium term market potential and readiness to rollout EVs in Belize. This draft strategy aims to update the national regulatory framework to support EV uptake, increase the supply of electric vehicles at the national level, develop charging infrastructure and improve knowledge and skills in this new technology.”
“The ride, the amenities that it has there, a/c, the wi-fi, just having a different feeling. It’s a clean feeling. Compared to where we were, this is significant for Belize City.”
“It takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Well that is the idea so that the buses can turn around quickly and go to the respective stops and provide the service, you know, that is what we want. We want an efficient service so that the people of, the residents of Belize City can be confident in this new service.”
The bus service begins on July twenty-second. Isani Cayetano for News Five.