Mikael Phillips | Whither JUTC and efficient and safe public transport

The Government seems to have given up on the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s mission of providing commuters of the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR). It is now devoid of policy, plan, operational goals or strategy and is subject to weekly piecemeal announcements.

The JUTC was set up in 1998 with the mission of “providing a safe reliable, modern and cost-effective service for the people of Jamaica” and given an exclusive license under the Public Passenger Transport (Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region) Act and Regulations to provide exclusive service in the KMTR. This effectively gave the JUTC the right, formerly owned by the defunct Jamaica Omnibus Service Company Ltd (JOS)

The licence required the provision of 25,000 seats daily in an area defined by the act. Seven hundred units were provided by the government, five depots, specialised tools and equipment sufficient to make it the envy of any operator in a comparable country.

Service has seriously deteriorated in recent years and with it, maintenance programmes, the fare box, driving standards and the overall image of the company, which still has great potential to offer quality both in the KMTR and on rural-stage carriage routes. But before that is possible, the transport infrastructure must be improved and expanded to accommodate the objective.

In the last 18 months, the company has imported 115 buses, all Chinese built, to bolster a dwindling fleet, which in September 2023 was said to be 270. The first injection of 50 was in September 2023 and the second was 100, all LNG powered, in September 2024. All the units are “city buses” (short-run, frequent stops and low) and none with specifications for long haul or hill routes.

After the addition of the first 50, the fleet should have increased to 320, yet on no day during the 2023/24 school year did the daily run-out exceed 270 with the Rockfort Depot most consistently below the required number for operations. Reliability was also low with “defects return” exceeding 10 per cent compared to the international standard of two per cent.

STRUGGLING

The addition of 100 units in September 2024 did not significantly affect run out or reliability. In fact, during the last week of January, the company was struggling to make a daily run out of 200. On February 6, it was 198, below 200. This is clearly a case of one step forward, two steps backwards.

It is against this background that is difficult to understand the announcements by the Minister of the JUTC’s route expansion into four parishes, St Thomas, St Mary, St Catherine and Clarendon. Some of the Origins and Destinations (OD) do not even seem to have benefited from any OD studies. Castleton, St Mary, is more on the journey to a destination, rather than a destination.

New routes must be properly studied and yields determined if the company is not to have continued bleeding. The deeper rural routes extend is the greater the need for infrastructure for refuelling, tyre repairs and minor mechanical or operational issues which require returning to a depot.

The expedition into rural areas without the required plans, buses and infrastructure is a disservice to commuters outside the KMTR and is not sustainable. The Government must have the appropriate policy responses for which has been an intractable problem, especially for rural students. Most important is the economic model which is being pursued since JUTC is owned by taxpayers. On all these same routes, several private operators have been given rural stage carriage, route taxi and hackney licences by the Transport Authority.

The competition on the routes is already causing concerns among operators. Last month one association requested a meeting with the government and the JUTC to discuss the expansion of JUTC routes into rural communities. The operators complain it is impacting their livelihood and called for consultation so all parties can benefit from the expansion. The request was very polite, almost uncharacteristic of the industry norm.

CART BEFORE HORSE

The Government is putting the cart before the horse. The order can only be plan, consult, build and implement.

The PNP manifesto for the 2025 general election will reveal a creative, sustainable, adequate and modern public transport system with defined roles for mass transit and cars. Co-existence is possible within the context of ‘give and take’, always putting commuter interest first and utilising modern technologies to make the system efficient, reliable and cost effective.

Public transport has been in a downward spiral since 2016, and the decline will not be halted with the addition of new units only as the fleet remains stagnant due to the absence of maintenance and the availability of service parts. Buses are only a part of the system, it also requires trained staff, efficient fare collection systems, transport and strategically placed bus depots. “Deadheading” costs will sink a company which is based in Kingston while attempting to sustain rural services.

Even at this late hour, the Minister of Transport must pull together a workable operating plan if the hodgepodge he is attempting is to work to benefit commuters and license operators.

If he does not, it will only be a matter of time before the service goes into reverse despite the 100 new buses he anxiously awaits in months.

Proverbs 28 verse 26 reminds “whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” Put the horse before the cart.

Mikael Phillips is member of parliament for Manchester North Western and opposition spokesman of transport and mining. Send feedback to mikaelphillipsmp@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com