THE Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) will launch its long-awaited Smart Card cashless system in mid-December on all 620 buses in its fleet, the Jamaica Information Service has reported.

According to JIS News, the JUTC’s information technology manager, Nimal Amitirigala, said that the estimated US$4-million cost to put the facility in place covered procuring equipment, sales terminals, software, central computer system and training expenses.

“All JUTC buses are Smart Card ready,” Amitirigala said, adding that the ticketing machines, which have been on all JUTC buses since the company’s inception in 1999, have been “Smart Card enabled”.

He said that initially, there would be five to 10 prime points of sale locations in high capacity areas for the Smart Cards. The long-term intent is to have the cards available at all 75 terminals.

“We want to be satisfied that the system will stand up, therefore it is prudent to start small, the way other countries do,” Amitirigala told JIS.

The electronic fare collection system is expected to minimise cash transactions on buses, speed up the entry of passengers into buses, improve accountability and revenue collection and guard against theft.

JUTC has spent about a year perfecting the system, which was introduced as a pilot on the Papine route last November with the help of students and staff from the University of Technology (UTech) and disabled persons from Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre.

“It did very well. They loved it,” JUTC’s public relations manager, Errol Lee, said of the pilot run.

He said that the cards would initially be provided in denominations of $250, inclusive of a $50 deposit, and would be phased in across the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR). There is also a 10 per cent discount on all initial purchases.

Lee explained that the $50 deposit would cover putting unique “personalised” features on the cards and replacing them in the event of loss.

Upon purchase, persons may personalise their cards by providing the vendor with special information of their choice, which, in the event of theft or loss, would be used to trace the card through the JUTC system. Once the card has been found, the JUTC would be able to stop the card and render it void. The card would then be replaced without charge to the owner.

He noted that while the cards were being introduced, cash would still be accepted.

Distribution of the cards, Lee said, would be handled by Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS). “We are operating on the premise that AIS has distributor status in the most popular areas,” Lee told JIS.

Addressing the issue of safety on the buses, which have, in earlier times, been troubled by incidents of theft and vandalism, Lee said “there has been an increased level of police interaction with JUTC buses, with constant spot checks and an increased number of police personnel assigned to monitor trouble spots”.

Plain-clothed police also board the buses randomly, and one private security company has been contracted, he said.

He noted that on several occasions, knives have been seized during these operations, however, there has been “a decrease in the number of violent acts against bus crews where people have been assaulted”.

Lee also pointed out that in recent months, incidents of vandalism have declined significantly.