If you traveled on any of the water taxi ferries today, you would have noticed important changes to the way these companies are now doing business.
That's because the Belize Port Authority is cracking down on monitoring and enforcement for public safety.
The need for increased safety was highlighted in a terrible way back in May. That's when a vessel at the Ocean Ferry Water terminal spontaneously exploded injuring 12 passengers and killing two sisters: 10-year-old Yamiri Yasmin Guy, and 8-year-old Kimberly Melissa Guy.
So now, safety measures which have been in the planning stage since 2015 are now being put in effect under the Water Taxi Regulations Statutory Instrument 29 of 2019.
Under this new SI, all water taxi companies will have to follow safety measures such as Issuing of Personal Flotation Devices to all passengers over one-year-old, and submitting Passenger Manifests at least 15 minutes prior to scheduled departure time. This requires passengers to provide their personal information at the ticket booth so that the operators can be held accountable for the number of passengers onboard their vessels.
Also, water taxi operators can no longer carry cargo on the same boat as passengers; only the personal effects of passengers will be allowed. Also, the boat captains can now refuse to allow a paying customer on board a boat if they are considered to be a threat to the other passengers. That person can now be criminally charged for posing that threat.
We spoke with Ports Commissioner Merlene Martinez about the changes:
Merlene Bailey Martinez, Ports Commissioner
"The genesis of the regulation is to improve safety and convenience for passengers. The regulations have from the wearing of seatbelts to ensuring that the water taxis have 2 engines to having an emergency management system. There are many provisions in there to a manifest. All of the provisions are designed to create an environment that's safer and an environment in which every water taxi passenger can be accounted for."
"What would have the most visible impact I would say on the passengers is the requirement for a passenger manifest. And I've heard the comparison made with a bus. However, if a bus has a problem and it pulls over, you can walk up to that bus and you know who is on that bus. If a water taxi has a problem, then it's a little bit trickier to account for the passengers on that water taxi. So the manifest will have the most impact I believe on passengers, but again, it's for their own purpose so we can account for them when they go. We can hold the water taxi operators accountable for that passenger being on board that water taxi, because so many things can happen and if you would allow me I would give you a couple of the provisions that are specifically for safety of the passengers. One of them is that the operators have to disseminate what we called personal floatation devices, which are life jackets. they have to distribute them at the beginning of the journey. The regulations now prohibit carrying cargo along with passengers. We have seen where water taxi operators take gas tanks, refrigerators, lumber. Somebody sent us a video with an operator loading lumber and almost hitting a passenger. Now the regulations are saying you are not allowed to take cargo along with passengers, because it poses a risk to the passenger."
2 of the more controversial changes in regulation for water taxies that is being rolled out is the requirement of a passenger manifest 15 minutes before departure time. Also, a passenger fee of $1 will be included in the purchase of a ticket. The water taxi operator can choose to absorb that cost, or he or she can pass it on to the customer.
We asked the Ports Commissioner about those changes, and here's how she explained why they are being implemented:
Merlene Bailey Martinez, Ports Commissioner
"The manifest takes effect immediately. We require the names, the date of birth, the destination which the water taxis collect anyway. basically that's the information we ask for."
Reporter
"How difficult will it be for the water taxis who now have this new requirement to implement this. We've heard some concerns that they felt a little blindsided by its implementation and having it being a requirement immediately?"
Merlene Bailey Martinez, Ports Commissioner
"It is immediate to you now. The water taxis operators have had the regulations since April of year. As a matter of fact, for instance San Pedro Belize Express told me that they were expecting to have their software ready by May to be able to produce a manifest. So for them to say they are blindsided I think it's not quite correct, because they'd had this. As a matter of fact, they have been in the discussion about these regulations since 2015. This is quite a long time in coming and they were sent the first draft regulations. We received feedback, that was tweaked, we discussed at length how they would be able to capture the information for the manifest even in the first meeting. So it's kind of disingenuous to say they were blindsided by it."
"The fee which will take effect a month from today, the operators have the option of absorbing the fee. We have to as an authority that regulates these operations, we have established that we do need to increase our presence in various locations. We have received so many complaints about overcrowding of vessels and people misbehaving on vessels and things like that. So it comes at a cost and so the fee really is for us to be able to up our presence for the protection of the passengers. Its so that we can offer support to the operators to regulate water taxis."
That additional passenger fee of $1 will take effect on September 1st. Also on that day, No water operator will not be permitted to operate a water taxi unless they are the holders of a valid permit and Seaworthiness Certificate issued by the Belize Port Authority.
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