KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) says it will maintain the use of its exclusive bus lane on Mandela Highway until it is advised to discontinue by the Ministry of Transport.

“We have done our own reviews and deem that it is causing much inconvenience to road users without much success. Going forward, the road will be used according to how it was designed,” the minister said during his sectoral presentation.

However, JUTC’s marketing and communications manager Reginald Allen told OBSERVER ONLINE that “Nothing has changed.  The information I have from the Ministry of Transport and Mining, which guides our operations with JUTC, [is that] the [JUTC] exercise on Mandela Highway is a road traffic exercise”.

“The works portfolio is under Mr Warmington with the NWA, which normally gives provision to close and open roads for repairs etc. But the arrangement on Mandela is not a road arrangement, it is a road traffic arrangement which comes under the Ministry of Transport,” Allen said.

To accommodate the bus lane, which was introduced on November 1, 2013, the westbound dual carriageway is converted to two-way traffic from Caymanas Bay to Plantation Heights between 6:00 am and 8:00 am on weekdays.

“This discussion about the planned and pending and future use of that bus lane by the JUTC, which is ongoing within the ministry, is a Ministry of Transport matter, it is not in the Works portfolio at all,” Allen argued.

He said based on information from the Transport Ministry, no decision has been taken but the matter is being examined.

“Meetings went on today and the same things (JUTC bus lane) will be going on tomorrow and the day after until we’re advised otherwise by the Ministry of Transport, which is where the jurisdiction lies”.