And keeping it on public transportation, we also asked Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner about City Hall's pilot program for electric city buses.
Here's what he had to say about this new program trial phase:
Bernard Wagner - Mayor, Belize City Council
"Again, that is well underway. Those funds have been approved. It's a grant fund by the EU being administrated by UNDP, which will see Belize City getting 3 electric buses. Later this week, we're doing the launch of the charging station at the Biltmore, along with BEL. So, that program is well underway. We believe that those buses will be on the ground in July. Currently, we're working on building capacity for maintenance of those buses, having our people trained, and building the entire route. We have to develop a route for those buses. We want to see out of this pilot project how do the buses run in the terrain of Belize City, and get the timing of those buses synced, so that we are able to then have the necessary data to then expand the project into all areas of the City."
Daniel Ortiz
"How will be managed, sir, and by whom?"
Bernard Wagner
"It will be managed by the City. The buses will be owned by the City, managed by the City, all revenues to the City."
Daniel Ortiz
"So, you guys will be competing directly with the private interests as well, for customers?"
Bernard Wagner
"Of course, and it's private and it's open. [In] any economy, you want competition, and when you have competition, then the people benefit. We're not chasing anybody out of the industry. All the buses that currently have their route in the City will continue to have their route. But, what we're building is a reliable and efficient bus transport system for the City, where even bank employees or the people who work at the offices will have a reliable service that, listen, when I say I go to that bus stop in 15 minutes, that bus will be there. And so, that is really the gist behind this entire project, building a reliable transport system for the City."
