And Floralia has so far remained quiet, slowly expanding its services, as any business owner would. And the co-owner, Marvin Vanzie, explained to us via Zoom today that when he heard of the opportunity to run in Placencia, he jumped on it. He also explained that Floralia isn't trying to get under the table deals or break the law, it's just that the Transport Board has a vision, and, well…Floralia fits it.
Marvin Vanzie, Co-Owner, Floralia
"It's two mutually exclusive events that occurred, one is Mr Ritchie and his runs, I believe they expired by the end of 2022 and the government was within its right to renew their license or to make amendments or not to renew their license and I think as any other bus operator or commuter, or the DOT, you're well aware of how other operators perform and Mr Ritchie's has always been plagued by mechanical issues, a lot of breakdowns and I'm sure that he's tried and his team has tried but they've had their difficulties and their reliability has been shaky, but that's DOT's side but the point is they chose to not renew his license and so when I became aware that there was an opening to move into Placencia and begin to operate, I mean, I'm just a company that wants to expand when the opportunity is there. And so I heard of that, I put in my letter of interest and after putting in my letter of interest I was informed that I if I was serious then put in my application, which we did, and then we got back the yes, it's something that we can do and we were given a date."
"I think we take a step back and think about the mandate of the department of transport, what their mandate is, to improve on the transportation sector, to improve on the commuter experience so when we look at it from that perspective I guess that team that they have including the board which is made up of other people that don't work for government, but the point is they're looking at a situation and seeing how they can make improvements to it and their bigger vision is about this upgrade which is always a hot topic on the news right."
Reporter
"But if you were to find out that, yes, indeed, this process was handled unlawfully, do you think that you may step back?"
Marvin Vanzie, Co-Owner, Floralia
"I guess not strange enough, I know Mr Ritchie's and his wife, very pleasant people, and we talked many times, we talked about partnerships we can do and different things, so it's not like he's a complete stranger to me. And with that being said, I hope and I do believe that the department of transport followed the right procedures but if for whatever reason a court deems that that was not done properly, then for sure, we wouldn't want to do anything that's against the law and we would support whatever it is necessary to do, if that requires us to not operate there anymore because it was done unlawful, then of course Floralia would always follow the law."
But of course, as you heard Ritchie's attorney say, there is lots of speculation that Floralia gets import duty exemptions, along with other "freebies" or privileges. However, Vanzie insisted that this is far from the truth and that they've had to pay out of pocket just like everybody else.
Marvin Vanzie, Co-Owner, Floralia
"I wish that we got exemptions, I wish that we got some kind of special treatment because of the large investment that is involved in this, it's not a 30,000 dollar bus like all the other buses that are on the road, it's a 380,000 dollar bus so I do wish, honestly I wish that we had those special privileges but we didn't, it's like crazy amount of money and I understood, I did lobby, I did ask, can we get some kind of ability to lower our prices because it's like such a large investment, it's something that Belize needs, but I was told by the Ministry of Finance that, nope, we can't because we're going to set a precedence and if you do it, then it's going to have to be done for all the other bus operators. And it hurt the pocket, it did change the entire business model, but it's understandable, it has to be something that's passed by law and it's functional for everybody, so no we did not, and I just buy spare parts, I paid 18,000 in spare parts and I know when that gets to the border, it's not going to get no special privilege, we're going to have to pay our duties like everybody else."
"I know the talk about preferential treatment and from the outside from their point of view, they can keep saying that but they just have to remember that, if they were on a board and their mandate as part of that board was to improve on the system and bring change and improvement, and the list off improvements mean newer buses, ore reliable service, all these things and when you have a system that is not doing that and you have an operator that for whatever reason, in our case we made the investment in all of these things, that can do it so whenever there's a bid and opening then because of our investment, not because of who we are, but because we do have a better bus. Now, if someone else had a newer bus or the same bus as us, then I'd say we don't really have an advantage but our advantage comes from our own creativity and our investment, not necessarily because of some connection that we have."
Floralia currently has five buses operating on the road, and they are also trying to expand to the northern runs.
