by André Habet
Climate Spotlight received a screenshot copy of a memo (shared below) from the Belize Bus Owner’s Cooperative (BBOC) dated August 5 stating, among other things, that assigned ticket seating will be enforced starting August 15.
Coming from the Secretary of BBOC, Miriam Balona, the memo refers to a formal letter sent by the Transport Department outlining 4 directives.
The first covers assigned seating, stating ‘All bus operators on the highway must be issued with a valid ticket which reflects with an assigned seat number.” As many commuters know, bus seating has in recent times become a free-for-all, resulting in passengers having difficulty acquiring a seat even if they’ve purchased a ticket from an agent.
The second builds on the first, and states that buses “without properly marked and numbered seating will be reported to the transport department for suspension of their service.”
Ministry of Transport CEO Chester Williams shared with Climate Spotlight that assigned seating is taking place due to “receiving numerous complaints about passengers rushing onto the bus since no seats are assigned.”
Williams also stated that mandated assigned seating is occurring to help senior citizens who are normally disenfranchised by the rush to board buses. Williams went on to say that this is to help streamline the ticketing issue and “it is going back to the bus companies of the past.”
The third directive calls on drivers and conductors to ‘cooperate with terminal authorities’ in the loading and offloading of passengers.
The last transport department note states that neglected or abandoned bus runs will be reported to the Transport board, which will ‘result in the revocation of road permit.’
Additional notes in the memo cover internal BBOC issues with the Transport department concerning a July 28, 2025, incident of reported driving in an ‘extremely reckless and dangerous manner’ resulting in termination of the driver, Mr. Douglas Flores.
A BBOC representative declined to comment.
This change in seating for highway bus service goes into effect a week from today. As work proceeds on the audits to formalize the National Bus Company, commuters and bus operators should expect further changes in public transportation.
