Belize City Council Signs Agreement for E-Transit Pilot Project

The Belize City Council is one step further in bringing the E-Transit Pilot Project to the old capital.  Yesterday, Mayor Bernard Wagner signed the official letter of agreement with Ian King, the Deputy Resident Representative at the Belize United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Country Office.  According to Mayor Wagner, they are expecting the first buses to arrive in Belize by November.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City: “It also really begin to drive the type of activities that we will engage in as we get closer and closer to the implementation of e-mobility in Belize City. We are not here to compete with our current bus owners. I have had multiple discussions with them. Actually we are, this pilot project is really to get the required data to really inform later on decision as we look to scale up and it will give the bus operators the opportunity to see how this type of equipment, this electric bus work within the confines of the city, within our urban setting and in respect to the type of streets we have in the city in terms of the range of the bus. So it will inform them, but it will also give them the opportunity to look at how efficient these buses will run, which will at the end of the day put more money in their pockets.”

Reporter: Talk to me in terms of maintenance though, I mean it’s a first so naturally you have to have some level of training or somebody equipped to maintain that.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City:“Of course UNDP have a robust program along with the European Union to ensure that we build capacity in terms of the personnel that will be operating the buses and in terms of who will be maintaining the buses. So that is part of the activities in with the signing of the L.O.A that really begin to trigger those activities in terms of training, in terms of really finalizing the route, in terms of putting in the infrastructure that will be required to implement this type of transport system.”

Reporter: So now with this loan of agreement signed, what timeline are we looking at for implementation? 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City: “Well our implementation and those activities commence immediately. It’s about communication, about getting out our messaging, about informing the public where we are, what timeline we are anticipating. I want to say that I’ve been reliably informed that the buses will be in the city in latest November on the ground. So we have a period of time to really get in terms of capacity building, in terms of our maintenance team together, in terms of our charging stations together, and that sort of infrastructure.”

The pilot project is being funded with a grant from the European Union, and will tackle the goals of reducing noise pollution, greenhouse gases, and carbon emissions whilst transitioning Belize into a new way of public transportation.