If you ask San Pedro folks what single item lowered their quality of life, many would answer- too many gas vehicles. Quiet electric carts are rarely mentioned. This is why they were not allowed on Caye Caulker. If you ask many tourists the reason they want to return, the answer is often that Caye Caulker has peace and quiet not found elsewhere. The new policy of traffic committee to allow gas carts has ended two hundred years of the good life and replaced it with pollution and noise.
Who benefits from this? Not the tourists- they don't like it.
Not those in the tour biz. They are going broke these days. Not the villagers. They are sick of the noise.
Who benefits?

Sad day for Caye Caulker. Who needs a gas cart anyway? The longest stretch of road on the island is less than a mile.

Forgive me but I hope the first person run over by a gas cart is from the traffic committee. Ah, by the way is the owner of the gas station on this committee??

When is the fleet of taxi vans due to arrive? Lord knows that they are a necessity!

One of the major reasons I like CC is the lack of motor vehicles.
If this changes count me out of returning to the island.

GOVERNMENT STOP BEING STUPID!!!!!!!!!!YOU DON'T NEED THEM AND
YES I KNOW I AM SHOUTING.

The very best thing, the thing that we talked to everyone about our visit to CC WAS NO CARS. It was wonderful to just walk around and listen to the peacefulness of the island. We went to San Pedro and it was so crowded and the noise level was so much more than we expected. The peacefulness of the island of CC will forever be burned into my memory. We thought about coming back next year, but have decided on finding another slice of heaven on earth.

This is so hard to believe, and very disappointing.

Totally agree.

I started coming to CC due to SP becoming too much like home: cars, gas golf carts, time shares and condos.
KBG

What is the reasoning behind permitting the golf carts? We have been to CC twice and really enjoyed not having all that traffic. Visited SP for about one hour and left because of all the carts. Any chance they will change it back? Especially on Earth Day, CC will not be leaving a bigger carbon footprint that was not necessary.

Sorry..CC will NOW be leaving a bigger carbon footprint....

Many compromises must be made to govern well, but the change to gas carts did not benefit a single person,while spoiling the tourist and local quality of life.If you post your opinion here either way, maybe the traffic committee might see the light.

Belize as a whole, and the islands specifically, need to decide what do we want to be. Do we want cars or not. If you want cars, the what the hell, gas carts, yamahas, rhinos, BIG ASS pick up trucks with EXTENDED wheels, big bass radios, and spinner rims...

Yes folks, there is one that drives around on the island of SP, blasting its stereo ala NYC.

welcome to your future CC. Just make sure they dont pave your road, once we did that, all hell broke loose with the vehicles.

in case your interested there is a Dodge Stealth on the island....USEFUL and NECESSARY i'm sure!

Do you think the masses can change the minds of the Traffic Committee? If so, let's get everyone we can to send in a vote.

The island is fragile and really can't accomodate the impacts of additional underground storage tanks, gasoline leakage and the assult on that land that comes with too much horse power. Remember what happened to the ground water a few years back?

Please don't let Caulker lose its charm and become a little San Pedro.

My friends tell the gas taxis and rental carts "No Sorry we prefer electric." If enough people do this it is very likely to work.

Except I prefer Gas.

It is good to hear other points of view. When riding in a taxi is it the noise or the smell that makes a gas taxi more appealing?Many gas carts here in the salty sand have mufflers rusted out long ago. That enhances the effect on both counts.

Personally, on key caulker I guess I don't care either way. But on Ambergris Caye, the reason I prefer gas carts is due to road conditions north of the bridge and far south where I go to visit my lot. The electric cart just doesn't have the torque to bust you through the mud.

Good point. Residents here mostly live in hmes without glass windows. Every gas cart goes by with a racket and often you can smell each one. As you say we don't have the same needs as Ambergris.

what gets me is the island is not that big. Both times we visited we walked everywhere. Only times we used the "taxi" was getting to the airport and that was because we wanted to enjoy the island as long as possible before leaving. Maybe the Committee will change its mind.

If Caye Caulker starts becoming any noisier and smellier we won't be coming back either. As a family, what appeals to us about the island is the peace and quiet, smell of flowers and ocean air and letting our kids run around freely without worrying about them. We rarely visit San Pedro because constantly dodging traffic and trying to make sure our kids don't get run over is not appealing.

So how do we express our disgust? Do the powers to be read this
website? I don't want to be a pain in the A** but I want to make
sure that they understand the disapointment we feel. Should we
communicate with our friends and Inn keepers to express our
disgust (I am trying to be PC, stronger words do apply) and
try to wield our economic sword over CC? Better places exist
if we have to smell the stink and hear the putt putt putt.

Bah Humbug :-)

Yes,write to the hotels and to Traffic Committee care of Caye Caulker Village Council, Caye Caulker ,Belize.
If they have a letter and have the hotel owners after them a bulb may light up. These are smarter and more honest folks on this particular committee who actually believe we LOVE those gas carts.Wise them up and we are saved.

News from the Traffic Committee. Many carts are brought to Caye Caulker without permits.The Committee has solved that problem by giving all the illegal carts permits.
They heard that someone used an old electric cart battery to hold down a fishing shade so now they suggest we bring in ONLY gas carts.Fisherman have used lead for fishing lines here more than a hundred years.
I plan to send the comments posted here to the Committee on Monday so if anyone has anything to say speak up.

Problem with Batteries would be Acid contamination rather than
worrying about the lead. Leave the lead alone and it is fine.
Acid contamination can be neutralized with baking soda. Gasoline
is a solvent and travels everywhere underground. Lead from
batteries normally would have some value in salvage. Solution
to battery problem is to collect them and dispose/recycle of
them properly. You ought to see the problems we have with wells
and such here in the US cities from gasoline contamination from
gasoline stations. We have one waste site in town that after
pumping the contamination out for five years when they opened
the site the smell of gasoline was so bad that they had to
route traffic away from the site as it was a potential explotion
hazard. I do not deny hazards from cart batteries but it can be
controlled much easier than gasoline. Don't forget people have
to change oil in four stroke carts so here is another potential
source of pollution. With all due respect please stay all
electric please.

Modest amount of acid is dispersed immediately in seawater and releases as the same kind of gas as you would get by dumping vinegar in a hundred cubic miles of seawater.I researched this when I arranged for a place in the dump to hold batteries until the Mennonites came to pick them up.Some thought it was a trick to get their valuable batteries for free. The people here got the message and now sell almost all of them to the same Mennonites for cash.

"They heard that someone used an old electric cart battery to hold down a fishing shade so now they suggest we bring in ONLY gas carts"

Read that over and over again, trying to make sense of it. So they made this major decision that will affect Caye Caulker negatively forever based upon a rumor about 1 battery. Public policy from a non sequitor. Great. Gotta be the stupidest thing I've ever read. And I'm not doubting you, Dane, I'm sure that's their official line. So, now everyone knows the basis for the decision, and can either accept the "wisdom" therein or fight it.

As I mentioned before, it is sad to think that gas carts need to be used on an island that you can get to everything by walking. If I remember the island is 1/2 mile wide by 3 miles, correct? It is a shame to ruin the lovelyness and uniqueness by making it like every other tourist trap. Please don't increase the carbon footprint of CC. We loved the fact there was no traffic except foot traffic.

If one person walks the walk, not the talk, and gets rid of THE cart completely, it could lead to another walker, walking the walk, and yet another.
I took the plunge in San Pedro this year, eliminating the golf cart completely...walking and biking all the time. Lost 30 lbs in the process.
It takes a culture of one to make a difference in a small community. I urge you all to get rid of YOUR cart if the situation bothers you. I did, it is liberating.

I let Ketchi run errands in his cart for me for BZ$5 when my bike basket won't work. A lot cheaper than owning and actually my favorite way since he feeds his family... One phone call and a five gets-er-done.

There have been many gas carts in CC for some time now. Many people prefer them because of the cost to replace batteries and some of the models tend to short out in the rain. I have discussed this matter with several people and many who need reliable transportation for businessdo prefer gas. They use about 4 gallons/week on average. These are the people who are most likely swaying the decission of the committee. Having said that I certainly prefer the electric carts and borrow one to run some errands from time to time when the basket is too small. I still prefer my bicycle and don't see a need to have a golf cart on CC. I dread the San Pedro syndrome and want nothing to do with that sort of congestion. While we're at it, let's get rid of that pesky Honda CRV and the Yamaha Rhino that have been on the island for way too long. Who the hell needs this type of transportation on CC?