And another change that will be coming to the public transport system is a new e-ticketing system, which will be a collaboration between the bus lines and the National Bank of Belize.
But how will it work? And what happens if you don't have data? Secretary, Ewart Metzgen explained more about it.
Ewart Metzgen:
"We have a ticketing system that is currently being tested by James bus line which is being tweaked that will have all the necessary stuff that the government is asking for that you'll be able to buy your ticket online, if you'll be in the states you could go online and buy your bus ticket from two weeks before you reach Belize."
Jules Vasquez, Host:
"But how will that work for poor people who don't have data?"
Ewart Metzgen:
"Because you have the phone card and James already has it, James has over 200, 300 people already using the cards where you know you're a worker, you travel the bus five days a week, you use $60 for traveling. If you go to the ticket booth and you buy your ticket for the full week, you will get 15% discount. So all that is being placed, it's being tested and it's being tweaked out. By the end of March more or less we will see if other operators can come onboard. Now that will be tied in with the National Bank and the e-wallet system they have. So for those that have data and have phone and into technology, they could use it for that. For those that don't have the technology you could buy the card and you top up your card."
