JUTC to Get 200 New Buses Over the Next Three Years

The Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s (JUTC) fleet of buses will be upgraded, with the addition of 200 electric vehicles over the next three years.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, said purchase of the buses will commence in the new financial year, with 100 slated to be delivered during 2024/25.

Opening the 2023/24 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 7), the Minister said the buses are in addition to another 70, already paid for, which will be deployed in the system shortly.

He noted that of the 70 new buses to be added to the JUTC’s fleet, 20 will use liquefied natural gas (LNG), adding that the company will be doing “more aggressive repairs” of some of the older buses, to ensure that adequate vehicles are available for its daily requirement.

Dr. Clarke told the House that the newest buses in the company’s fleet were purchased in 2019, and the $40 billion investment in the publicly owned transport company is to improve the travelling experience of Jamaicans.

The JUTC is an agency of the Ministry of Transport and Mining and is the exclusive provider of public transit services in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR), comprising Kingston and St. Andrew, and Portmore and Spanish Town in St. Catherine.

The company delivers public transport services seven days a week, for up to 14 hours a day.

Its operations span various depots in Spanish Town and Portmore, and Rockfort in Kingston.

Additionally, buses are dispatched daily from several outstations to provide service as far as Longville in Clarendon.