They're on again, off again, and now...on again as the Novelo brothers' National Transport Bus Service has been granted road service permits to operate runs between Benque Viejo and Belize City. On Saturday, the Transport Board reviewed 29 applications for road service permits and approved 12 of them, a third of those are for National.
Why now? After the Transport Department impounded all of National's buses? Well, the Transport Board says it has been conducting a public transportation needs assessment on all major routes and has reached the same conclusion that commuters have been griping about for months: Novelo's the receiver is not doing a satisfactory job at servicing all its runs. So now, National, which just last week had its last busses impounded, has been given a permit for one month only. Additional permits were given to other lines provide services to Ladyville, Mahogany Heights, August Pine Ridge, Guinea Grass, Orange Walk Town, San Pedro, Cristo Rey, Patchakan, the northern border and Red Bank Village in Stann Creek.
There's no indication of how the decision will be taken by the Novelo's receivership whose management has consistently complained about sniper runs that are undermining their service and revenue stream. The last time, when Novelo's felt the Transport Board had failed to act correctly, it ordered a closure of bus services to the west for a day.
