State Company Providing 400 Tyres for JUTC Buses

Employees at the Jamaica Ultimate Tyre Company (JUTC II) are working overtime to ensure that the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) will be able to fulfill its commitment to put additional buses on Kingston Metropolitan Area Transport (KMTR) routes for the start of the new school year.

Upwards of 400 new and retreaded tyres are being provided by JUTC II and the company’s General Manager, Kenry Jackson, is assuring that they will be ready for delivery.

Speaking with journalists at the company’s Maxfield Avenue-based factory in Kingston on Friday, August 30, Mr. Jackson said the staff would be working that day and on Saturday, August 31, to ensure that “tyres will not be an issue, come Monday morning.”

“So, we have some new tyres here and we have retreaded (tyres), and we will be putting (those) tyres on the rims today and tomorrow, working overtime, to ensure that… the..350 buses (are) rolled out on Monday. We are here to assist them as best as possible. My objective is that come Monday morning, hopefully, tyres should not be an issue,” Mr. Jackson said.

JUTC Managing Director, Colin Campbell, recently announced the increase in the number of buses plying KMTR routes from 244 to 350, effective September 1.

This will be facilitated through the introduction of a number of new units, which the state-run entity has acquired.

He said that the additional buses “will enable us…to provide a more predictable schedule for commuters.”

Mr. Campbell also announced plans to further increase the fleet to 400 by year-end, a move, which he said, will also be facilitated through the acquisition of new buses, as well as re-introduction of repaired units.