Adequate and reasonably comfortable seating, that may seem elementary at any public transport hub like a bus terminal. But in the savage landscape of Belizean public transport, a seat usually means a rough wooden bench - and you're lucky if you get that!
But, change is coming - even if it's only incremental.
Commuters will now have comfortable chairs while they wait for the next bus at the Belize City Bus Terminal. And they can also easily browse the bus schedule which will be prominently displayed on a computer monitor. CEO in the Ministry of Transport Chester Williams was there to oversee the installation of these upgrades today, and here's what he had to say about it. Jomarie Lanza reports.
CEO in the Ministry of Transport, Chester Williams, showed up at the Belize City Novelo's bus terminal this morning with manpower, supervising the installation of new waiting chairs and a widescreen monitor that will project the schedule for arrival and departure of buses.
It's one small step to civility but a giant leap. For a terminal long neglected.
He said that it marks the beginning of many new changes to come at one of the oldest bus terminals in the country.
Chester Williams, CEO in the Ministry of Transport
"I had pledged that we would be looking to see what we can do to enhance the experiences of our passengers that traverse our bus terminals and it is with that spirit that we are here again today and as you can see we are installing some new chairs again you look at the crap that people had to sit on, a six inch metal slab is highly inadequate so we are changing that out some of them out now and installing the very high quality waiting chairs and again we are hoping that the passengers are going to take care of these equipment. Likewise we are also installing a TV as you can see the TV is going to be used to display the schedule of the buses so when the passengers come to the terminal they would be able to look at the screen and see what time what bus will be leaving and that way they can schedule themselves more better than I believe they can do now. We also brought with us an architect from the ministry of infrastructure and what he is doing he is looking at the building itself, the integrity of the building and to see what can be done to enhance the building."
Williams says that before they continue to go about repairing the interior fixtures at the terminal, they are also looking to see how they can elevate the flooring at the entrance, rewire the building, install ticket booths and even air conditioning where these booths will be set up. One commuters grateful for the upgrade:
Leanne Shol, Commuter
"Comfortable, all of them are comfortable. I mean you can enjoy the Tv while you wait for your bus and thing so to me it is comfortable. Everyone has different reasons and thing but I like the changes so."
But aside from these renovations he says there is still much work to be done and enforced within the buses transporting the passengers.
Chester Williams, CEO in the Ministry of Transport
"As a part of my visit I had the opportunity of checking some of the buses and surprisingly one of the buses I checked, the driver has no seat belt. There is no seat belt on the bus for the driver so this is a bus that travels from Dangriga to Belize City everyday with passengers and there is no seat belt. It's not to say that the seat belt is not working, the bus have absolutely no seat belt for the driver. I had to ask the CTO how he comes to Belize everyday, what are we doing? It shows again that our enforcement is lacking. Other buses I checked do not have a spare tire when I question the driver about the spare tire, he says he was just about to get one today and that they will put something at the bottom of the bus to be able to accommodate the spare tire, so again this bus travels the road everyday without a spare tire so if something were to happen in terms of a flat, all the passengers on that bus are going to be inconvenienced until another bus were to come because the bus does not have a tire to change in the event of a flat so these are things that we need to ensure that we make regular checks on to ensure that the buses are in compliance with their road service permit."
And as for the other terminals across the country, they will get their turn as well.
Chester Williams, CEO in the Ministry of Transport
"We are starting with Belize City and Belmopan I think at this time the Belmopan proposal is more costly than the Belize City one because we have already put together the costing for the pavement of the entire compound in Belmopan. That has gone to the Ministry of Finance for approval and I'm hoping within the next week or 2, we will be getting approval for that and then the work there should commence and Belmopan terminal will also be getting the same type of chairs we are getting here and the TV, so we are looking at Belmopan, and Belize City first and then we will move to the other areas like Orange Walk. I have gotten proposals from a particular group of persons who are willing to come together and build a terminal for Orange Walk, a state of the art terminal, so myself and the minister are in discussion to see how we can move ahead with that because we do understand that Orange Walk does need a terminal. San Ignacio likewise is a part of the national bus company. We are looking at constructing terminals in San Ignacio and Benque because those two areas do not have any. The structural integrity of the terminal in Corozal is not too bad it's just a piece that was added on at the back for bathroom that is falling apart so I believe that with good engineering we should be able to save that from continuing to give way and once that is done then we can look at what we can do to enhance the building itself."
