As you heard earlier, while the Belize Bus Association is starting to get positive feedback on their plea for an increase in bus fares to match the ever-increasing cost of fuel. But that's not their only beef; they also have a dispute that's starting to brew between them and the Ministry of Transport.
They are strongly resisting the decision of the Ministry's Transport Board which granted a road service permit to the new company, Floralia Bus Line to operate a new run which would make a round trip from Independence, to Dangriga, then to Belize City, and back. As told you last week, their attorney, Dean Barrow, wrote to the Ministry and notified them that they have filed an application for judicial review to challenge the Transport Board's permission to Floralia to conduct this new run. He asked them to consider a delay, and it appears that the Ministry conceded over the weekend, most likely due to the reports that the BBA members intended to block the road in protest.
This morning, we spoke via telephone with the owner of Floralia, Marvin Vanzie. He told us that the Ministry of Transport personnel reached out to his company yesterday and made a request to hold off on starting their new run. That bus run was scheduled to start at 4:30 a.m. this morning in Independence.
He pointed out to us that this postponement isn't any sort of acknowledgment that there's something wrong with the permit. They and the government maintain that all the necessary steps were followed as per procedure. But, because it has the potential to lead to escalating tensions, the Ministry and Floralia decided that it is best to wait.
Last week, Vanzie spoke with us via Zoom teleconference about this quarrel over their new run. He told us that although the time slot might not be as lucrative as other runs, his company decided to pursue it in the interest of eventual growth:
Marvin Vanzie - Co-Founder/Owner, Floralia
"Obviously, our interest is to grow and to do it right. Now, what criteria that the government uses for approvals or removals, or anything related to that, we're not privy to that. So, we put in our interest for being able to put in another run, and they then informed us that a specific time was available at a certain date and that we'd be interested in that. It wasn't necessarily the best time because we do our studies, right, and obviously, there are more lucrative runs, but the reality is we said, well, let's try it. It starts out of Independence, making it to Dangriga, eventually making its way to Belize and back. So, that is the one that's causing an uproar in which they are some allegations related to how the Transport Department gave the permit. But, the details behind that, I'm not too sure. I know that on our side, we went through the entire process, eventually getting to the point where we have an RSP."
And as viewers are aware, part of the new company's marketing brand is to provide commuters with a premium experience in comfort, reliability, and safety. Well, according to Vanzie, their customers are already starting to give the kind of positive feedback they were hoping for when the idea of the company was first formed. Here are his comments on that:
Marvin Vanzie - Co-Founder/Owner, Floralia
"Floralia started on December 6th, but the story of Floralia is not on December 6. It's actually from since March of last year. We started having a conversation. It was like, Hey, what can we do to do something different in Belize? What's a business idea? You work in an industry for so long, and then eventually, you realize, hey, you want to do your own thing, and eventually, the conversation got to public transportation, and the planning started. You do your excel work. You see if it makes sense if the money can be made. And then, the idea of not only getting into the public transportation, but doing something extremely different, and giving people value for their money. So, when we got the positive feedback that, yes, we were willing to invest properly, and it aligned itself with what the Ministry's vision was - coincidence because it's not like we - our mentality from the beginning was to do it right. And it just so happened that the Ministry too to want to upgrade. Those were our initial 2 runs, after we got the go-ahead, then the investment was made to purchase new buses from Utah. The best thing about this business is if you go on Facebook, and you talk to people, it's a life-changing experience for them. For everybody else who has a car, it's easy to just zoom around. You have AC and comfort, and you go when you want. But, for everybody else who has to use the public transportation industry, it's difficult when it comes to reliability, comfort, and safety of it. So, we got our initial 2 runs, and we started December 6, PG to Belize City and back. Initially, the public was shaky about it. Is this real? What's up with this? There must be some catch. But, with time, people started realizing that it was legit. It's Belizeans. I am a Belizean; my colleague Derrick is a Belizean. And it was our idea to do something different. We have every right to put in an application. It could be denied. I get that, but we applied like everybody else."
We are informed that no date has been set as yet for the Judicial Review claim which will challenge their new run. It is expected to be scheduled for a date in the near future, as soon as a Supreme Court judge is available to preside over the matter.
