On Tuesday Cabinet approved an increase in bus fares based on a request - and a threat - from the Belize Bus Association.
The new fares were supposed to take effect tomorrow April 24, but tonight, that's been put on pause.
That's after a meeting between the BBA and the Ministry of Transport today. They jointly agreed to delay the increase until further notice.
Today in Belmopan, CEO at the Ministry of Transport Chester Williams and the President of the BBA Philip Jones explained how they arrived at that decision:
Chester Williams CEO, Ministry of Transport
"We met this morning. Our ministry, along with the BBA, to see how we're going to do the calculation based on the adjustment that has been made. It hasn't been approved by cabinet. And so we are basically here this morning up to this afternoon working out the different rates as we go along the highways and I must say that, we are grateful for the support of the BBA in this, in this respect."
"We believe that in order to reduce any friction, in this process, that it was best for us to, to group together as opposed to we doing the and put them on. And there might be disagreements. So putting our heads together around our expertise was the best way to go. And I believe we achieved a lot today by making sure that that we were able to complete this process."
"Well, as you know that there is the short stops, short stops will go up to like between one mile to, to ten miles. And, the short stops do have a cost. So the short stops we add a slight increase to the shots, which will be like maybe $0.50. And then after we shot something up, like $0.18 per mile ratio, then that then gives you the, the amount that the commuter is going to pay based on the $0.18 per mile ratio."
Phillip Jones, President, BBA
"It was a very tedious process. The ministry and their personnel were very professional. It was cordial. And, I must say that the commuters will see in many areas a decrease in the fairs that they were paying. No, the alignment, assist in alleviating whatever was overpriced to reduce that cost. And there will be certain areas you will see, probably a $0.50 to a dollar increase."
"So basically it's it's just a price adjustment and a price alignment."
And for good measure the CEO also responded to comments made at the UDP press conference yesterday when they criticized the National Bus Company:
Chester Williams CEO, Ministry of Transport
"You know there is a thing when you you try to do something and you're unsuccessful at doing or you couldn't do it to a certain standard and someone comes behind and masters it, you tend to criticize them. And that's what is happening here. The UDP were there for many years. The question is what did they do? This has been a government that has responded to the needs of the people."
"A government that is that does just doesn't do things because they want to do it but they do a complete assessment of what is it that we need to do to make things better for people. And so for the UDP to have criticize in their, I don't know if it was a press conference or what you want to call it is rather hypocritical. Because even before the increase was announced by cabinet, they were already speaking that the government should give the Bus operators what they're asking for."
"Now here comes the government giving the bus operators some of what they asked for, and they still criticize. They need to say what they mean and mean what they say."
