On October 28, 2026, the Public Service Union (PSU) released an official statement raising sharp objections to the draft Public Transportation Investment Bill 2026, just one day ahead of the legislation’s scheduled review during a special Senate sitting on October 29. While the union publicly endorses the broader policy goal of modernizing the country’s public transit network, it has flagged systemic flaws in the bill’s drafting process and core provisions that it argues prioritize the state-run National Bus Company (NBC) over private independent operators, and leave frontline transit workers at risk of losing long-held employment protections. PSU President Dean Flowers emphasized that the union was repeatedly promised formal consultation during the bill’s development, but was never granted access to the full official draft before the legislation was tabled in the House of Representatives, leaving worker representatives completely sidelined in policy discussions that directly impact thousands of transit employees. A primary point of contention centers on ambiguous language in Section 6 of the bill, which states that workers who transition to NBC employment will retain their existing rights and benefits, while simultaneously stripping them of their status as government public service employees. Flowers noted that existing collective agreements for public service staff include far more robust pension plans, leave entitlements and workplace protections than the employment terms currently offered by the NBC, creating a gap that the bill fails to close. The union is also pushing back against sweeping, five-year tax exemptions outlined in Section 5 for the NBC, which would waive all GST, customs duties, excise levies and related fees on new bus purchases, spare parts, tires, operational equipment and construction costs for new transit facilities. The PSU argues that these targeted concessions put independent licensed bus operators serving high-demand routes across Belize City and northern Belize at a severe competitive disadvantage, and that any government incentives to upgrade the national transit network should be extended equally to all licensed operators to create a fair, enabling operating environment. Additional demands from the union include full public transparency around all existing lease agreements for public bus terminals, full disclosure of all revenue generated from these publicly owned facilities, and explicit legislative language preventing the transfer of terminal land and assets to the NBC. The PSU is calling on the Senate and relevant government ministries to address all its outlined concerns before advancing the bill, including fulfilling information disclosure requirements mandated under Section 45 of the Labour Act, legally enshrining full protection for all workers’ pension entitlements, and codifying equal regulatory and financial treatment for every licensed public transit operator in the country.