JUTC Moving to Improve Customer Service
By: , August 23, 2013The Key Point:
Photo: Yhomo Hutchinson
Managing Director, Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), Colin Campbell (left) is greeted by Managing Director, J.R. Group, Rene Wellington, when he arrived at the location in Kingston on August 21 where the first batch of articulated buses that were sourced for the JUTC this year are being housed. The buses were taken off the wharf on August 20. The JUTC plans to roll out an additional 144 buses by the end of the year. J.R. Group is the local dealer for the buses.The Facts
- The initiatives form part of the company’s renewed efforts to deliver improved services to its clients
- JUTC representatives will also be interacting more with the public by attending fora
The Full Story
The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is slated to roll out several initiatives over the next few months, which are aimed at improving the quality of service provided to passengers travelling on its buses.
These include: training of staff in customer service; phased implementation of the cashless fare system; increasing the number of buses in operation; and introducing the new ‘Park and Ride’ service in Portmore, St. Catherine, come September.
Speaking at a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank session at the agency’s head office, Half-Way-Tree Road, Kingston, on Wednesday, August 21, the JUTC’s newly appointed Managing Director, Colin Campbell, said the initiatives form part of the company’s renewed efforts to deliver improved services to its clients.
“We intend to do some tweaking of the company’s customer service activities. We intend to be a more courteous company. We intend to have our commuters in mind a little more,” he assured.
Mr. Campbell said JUTC representatives will also be interacting more with the public by attending fora, such as parish council meetings, to hear the views and opinions on the services being offered. Those occasions, he added, will also be used to promote the JUTC’s services as a viable travelling option.
“We will be one of the service providers who regularly attend Parish Council meetings to be able to get feedback from the people’s representatives,” he said.
Additionally, Mr. Campbell said the JUTC will be establishing a commuter committee through which the company can get direct feedback from commuters. He assured that the committee will contribute to ensuring “improved services and better activities on the part of the JUTC, both in terms of service (delivery) and the level of courtesy that they (commuters) experience on the ride.”
The JUTC’s Deputy Managing Director for Operations, Kirk Finnikin, said the company will also continue to retrain and monitor the progress of drivers currently benefitting from refresher programmes.
“We recognize that training of our staff is critical. We have gotten feedback from our commuting public that customer service needs some improving and our training team at the JUTC has been taking this quite seriously,” he said, while advising that a training programme is currently underway for route inspectors.
“They will know what it is to restore service and engage customers, even sharing what may come across as disappointing news when your bus is either delayed or has to be rescheduled,” he explained.
To eliminate the problem of buses not being adequately utilized or dispatched at particular times of the day, Mr. Finnikin said a Road Management Unit has been introduced to maximise the daily use of drivers and buses and “to move as many commuters where the demand may slightly deviate on a particular day from what the plan is.”
He said in situations where extra buses are required on a particular route, the unit will be responsible for rerouting and rescheduling buses in order to maintain adequate service in the affected areas.