Vaz defends rural school bus rollout
Published:Friday | May 23, 2025 | 12:10 AMCorey Robinson/Senior Staff Reporter
Transport Minister Daryl Vaz on Thursday defended “unprecedented” strides made at the struggling Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) and the planned rollout of a rural school bus system islandwide later this year, dismissing criticisms from the Opposition as political mischief.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) building in New Kingston, Vaz announced the procurement of 110 retrofitted buses from the United States, which he said constitute the rural bus system.
One hundred buses will be put on rural routes, expanding services in Clarendon, Morant Bay, St Thomas, and Linstead, St Catherine, while the rest will stand as reserves in the event of breakdown or servicing of the others. He explained that it is expected to serve 258 schools and will run in the mornings and evenings.
The buses will complement another already acquired and running. It is expected that another seven vehicles will be added to the Portland fleet.
Vaz said the new buses are a significant upgrade from what the JUTC operated in its early years, describing the difference as “night and day”. Each bus has a mileage capacity of 500,000, and the majority will arrive with 300,000 to 400,000 miles already logged. Sixty of the buses are set to begin operations in September, with the remaining 40 joining the fleet by January 2026.
He admitted that importing used buses wasn’t the first choice but was necessary to keep fares affordable for students and their families amid rising transportation costs. The buses were previously used for student transport in the US and were maintained under strict safety protocols monitored by US municipalities and federal authorities.
SUBSIDISED FARES
“[Based] on our models that we have done in terms of subsidy for a rural transportation system, it means that we would be paying subsidised fares ... that has run between $5 billion ... and I think the highest one was about $17 billion a year, which is totally unaffordable,” he charged.
“So it is not that we’ve always had this concept in mind. This concept is a fallback or otherwise we would not be able to implement the school bus system paying realistic fares ... ,” he explained, adding also that the single bus operating the rural system in Portland has had no hiccups.
“It is clear that the Opposition does not support this initiative and would love nothing more than to see it fail or to see it rolled back. This is unfortunate as approximately 60 per cent of the current members of the Opposition in Parliament represent rural constituencies who stand to benefit,” he said, adding that rural inclusion is long overdue in the transportation sector.
Turning to the JUTC, Vaz argued: “Not only are we doing unprecedented work at the JUTC, including making a dent in fuel theft, potentially saving billions of dollars over the next few years, [but] for the first time in decades, the JUTC now has more new buses in its fleet than old buses.
“We are fixing the JUTC and providing a reliable and sustainable school bus system for schools and students across Jamaica,” he said, adding that more than 53 per cent of the energy used by JUTC is now cleaner, with low toxic emissions, and that there are maintenance and refurbishing schedules to keep the buses in their best condition.