Gov’t Announces Temporary Reduction in JUTC Fares

The Government has announced temporary reductions in Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) fares.

This forms part of measures to dampen the impact of the announced increases in public passenger vehicle (PPV) fares on the overall inflation rate.

Central Government is expected to provide the JUTC with the resources to finance the initiative.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, made the announcement during a statement to the House of Representatives on Tuesday (November 21).

He informed that effective January 1, 2024, there will be a reduction in the regular fare from $100 to $70, a decrease in the fare for children from $30 to $25, and for pensioners from $40 to $30.

Additionally, effective April 1, 2024, there will be a further reduction in the regular fare from $70 to $50, from $25 to $20 for children while the fare for pensioners will be reduced from $30 to $25.

“We anticipate that these temporary measures will have a mitigating effect on the impact of the private bus and taxi fare increases on the commuting public. I wish to reiterate that these are temporary measures designed and calculated to support the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) in its efforts to return and keep inflation within the target range,” Dr. Clarke said.

“I expect these measures to be temporary. But we are giving ourselves up to 24 months, after which fares will need to be adjusted upwards and returned to existing levels. This intervention is consistent with the Government’s strategy of targeted and temporary interventions,” he added.

The Minister said it is expected that for the period January to March of this fiscal year, this measure will cost approximately $200 million, and for the full year period April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 the cost will be $800 million.

The BOJ’s monetary policy action, supported by prudent fiscal policy as well as a moderation in imported commodity prices, has resulted in a sharp decline in 12-month point-to-point inflation from a high of 11.8 per cent in April 2022 to 5.1 per cent in October 2023.

However, the Central Bank advises that, as result of the adjustments in PPV fares, they are expecting a reversal of the downward trend in annual inflation starting in November 2023.

The Minister said the October inflation numbers do not include the impact of the increase in PPV rates.

Meanwhile, Dr. Clarke used the opportunity to update the House that the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and the Ministry of Science, Energy and Transportation are working together to advance the project, ‘Boosting the Capacity of State-Owned Bus Enterprises’.

“When we embarked on this project, we were considering 200 new buses over two years. We have now upsized that to 300 new buses over the next three years, with the first 100 to arrive during the next fiscal year – 2024/25. This is in addition to the new buses that arrived this year,” he informed.

On October 10, 2023, the Government announced a 19 per cent increase in PPV fares (excluding JUTC and the Montego Bay Metro (MBM)), effective October 15, 2023.

A further 16 per cent increase was also announced to take effect in April 2024.