Transport Minister Reports Improvement in JUTC Back-to-School Service

Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Hon. Daryl Vaz, is reporting that there has been improvement in the public transport sector, resulting from ongoing efforts to supply sufficient vehicles to service the system.

“Based on the reports I have gotten and the feedback from commuters, so far, we have made a big improvement for this year’s back-to-school, but there is much more improvement that can and will be done,” he said.

The Minister was addressing the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing on September 6 at Jamaica House.

Mr. Vaz reported that on Monday, September 4, some 285 buses were available for rollout. However, mechanical failures reduced that number.

“After rollout, we ended up with 236 buses and that was due to defects and breakdowns in terms of fare machines for the buses and other mechanical defects,” he explained.

On Tuesday, September 5, Minister Vaz said 233 buses were rolled out into the system and up to 7:00 a.m. this morning (September 6), 265 buses were available for rollout.

“For 7:00 a.m. we had 70 from the Portmore depot, 65 from the Spanish Town depot, and 60 from the Rockfort depot, bearing in mind that all the buses are not being rolled out at once. It is done in phases over the period of the morning,” he noted.

Minister Vaz said it is estimated that approximately 25,000 passengers were transported from Portmore, another 25,000 from Spanish Town, and from Rockfort approximately 15,000 passengers were transported.

He pointed out that the aged fleet continues to pose a challenge to providing a reliable service to the public.

“The challenge that we are having right now why we are not meeting the target of the 300 buses, is that we have 70 buses that are aged between 12 and 14 years old. Those buses were rehabilitated for back to school, and unfortunately, they are not holding up as we expected. The rehabilitated buses are coming back in as soon as they go out,” he explained.

Mr. Vaz said rehabilitation of 30 to 35 of the 70 buses that are part of the aged fleet will be undertaken to provide reliable service in the interim until re-fleeting is done.

The Minister is asking commuters for patience and understanding as the Government continues the effort to address the longstanding challenges plaguing the public transport sector.