WESTERN BUREAU — The financially strapped Montego Bay Metro Bus Company Limited is to resume service, on a limited basis, immediately after the Easter holidays, company officials say.

According to Major Desmond Brown, general manager of Metropolitan Management Transport Holdings Ltd (MMTH), only six of the company’s 14 buses will be in service then; and only 19 of its 75 employees will be on the job. MMTH provides financial support to MoBay Metro on behalf of the government.

All workers who had worked up to the end of last month were fully paid, last week, Brown said, and the possibility of a full resumption of services would be assessed after the completion of an ongoing survey being conducted by the Transport Authority.

“We have not yet finalised a date for the full startup. What the ministry is doing is looking to rationalise the company,” he said. “We cannot subsidise a service the people don’t want.”

The company, which has had operating losses of $2 million a month, has been rocked by industrial action since late last year. Management has slowly scaled back operations until the doors were temporarily closed two weeks ago.

Management is now assessing the impact — with help from school principals and the Social Development Commission — that a reduction in service or complete closure would have on the bus company’s customers. MoBay metro’s routes include Cambridge, Sandy Bay, Falmouth, Cornwall Courts, Wakesfield, Pitfour, Norwood and John’s Hall.

Under the scaled down service that will be available after Easter, the only routes that will be serviced are Sandy Bay and Falmouth.

“There will be a great impact, especially on the schools, as they depend on the buses,” maintained MoBay Metro’s general manager, Anthony Copeland.

Some schools including William Knibb High School, Teamwork, and Associates Christian Centre, he said, now benefit from an informal pick-up service offered by the company, even though these locations are outside the normal routes.

For the past five years, Montego Bay Metro Bus Ltd has provided transportation, at a reduced rate, to students and adults in sections of Trelawny, Hanover and St James.

It began as a private sector entity with some funding provided by the Government, but almost two years ago the state took control of its operations.

With the influx of taxi operations entering the transportation sector, the company’s revenue has dwindled while its debts have been escalating.

The ongoing assessment, Copeland argued, will make the bus company more cost effective and less of a financial burden on the government.