Earlier this week you saw the Chairman of the Belize Bus Association Thomas Shaw complaining about Westline Bus and the road service permits that company alone has been allowed to pay for.
Two of those runs - the 3:30 and 4:00 pm form Benque Viejo are highly sought after: right now the BBOC runs them - but Westline has now been awarded those runs - and has paid for the road service permits to secure them.
Today we spoke to Chuc - he told us that he has met with the Bus Owners Association and told them he is willing to make a compromise by swapping some of his runs for theirs. But the terms of that compromise could not be hammered out - and he says it's because the BBOC wants to cherry pick the best runs - which won't work.
Here's Chuc's side of the story:..
Sergio Chuc, Westline Bus
"When I got back their response from Monday they said that they will tale the first 5 coming out from Belize City which are excellent runs they want to the 7:30 and including the 6:45, so they asked for 7 runs instead of 5 that they have right now. They say that coming back out of Benque they want an half an hour slot; they want 12:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00 and 2:30 runs and that is what broke down the deal - I said no, you can't cherry pick this thing. The transport department proposes these runs and you apply and I apply for it and that is the situation where we stand right now."
Reporter
"You feel that you've been given an unfair advantage in all this?"
Sergio Chuc, Westline Bus
"Not necessarily because right now we are dealing exclusively with BBOC. If you note Westline only runs from Belize City to Benque. BBOC runs from Belize City to Benque, from Belize City to Chetumal, from Benque in the morning to Belize City and back in the afternoon to Benque; you see all the different routes they have. I have one route and I don't see how we could say that I will have an advantage because of that. They are complaining about the two routes 3:30 and 4:00 - it's basically those routes are inter-lapping on my slot that I have coming back and I guess that is why the transport board made a logical decision that I have from 12:30 - 3:00 so it's just easier to slap on the other two runs 7:00,8:00 and 3:30 and 4:00."
Jules Vasquez
"You are saying that it was a rational review. They are saying that it's a preferential review because you are a member of the UDP central executive - your party is in."
Sergio Chuc, Westline Bus
"My party is in, I am not denying that and I have no reason to deny that and apologize on that. I am a part of the central executive of the party and I think the transport department made a logical decision, it's not because I am a UDP or maybe it is."
The new runs are slated to go into effect later this month.
