JUTC brings bus fleet up to 315

The 50 new buses which arrived in the island last week will boost the Jamaica Urban Transit Company's (JUTC) daily roll-out capacity to 315, ahead of the start of the 2023-24 academic year in September.

This, according to Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz. He pointed out that this represents an increase of 175 units, or 125 per cent, over the number that the JUTC was turning out daily when he became portfolio minister in May. He said the JUTC was coming from a roll-out of about 140 buses since he took office. He explained that since then, the JUTC has utilised a process of emergency procurement of spare parts to have an additional 125 units ready for roll-out in September when the 2023-24 academic year begins, bringing the total to 265.

"We are now looking to roll out about 315 buses for back-to-school [in] September, which includes these 50 buses," Vaz added. He was speaking last Friday at Kingston Wharves Ltd, where the buses were being offloaded from a vessel that docked at the port. Vaz pointed out that there were some delays in getting the buses into the island.

"Finally, the buses are here after an approximate two-month delay from the original estimated time of arrival, due [to] the way in which the buses were shipped," he said. He further explained that the vessel was not the traditional 'roll-on roll-off' ship, where the buses could be driven on and off, but rather a 'lift-on lift-off' sytem that involves the use of cranes to load and offload the units.

The shipment included five 45-seater electric buses, 40 45-seater compressed natural gas (CNG) buses and five CNG buses with a capacity of 34, which will facilitate disabled passengers. Vaz stated that the process to acquire the buses transcended three transport ministers and acknowledged his predecessors, former ministers Robert Montague and Audley Shaw, for their role in the undertaking, saying they were the ones who "put in the work".

He thanked Kingston Wharves Ltd and the Jamaica Customs Agency for their urgency in facilitating the offloading and ensuring the clearance of the buses, respectively, "to get them off to the depot immediately, to start the pre-service to get them out on the road within the next week".