THE Jamaica Urban Transit Corporation’s managing director, Tore Larssen, will demit office and be replaced by Patrick McIntosh on May 1 as the state-run bus company struggles to become viable.

“When McIntosh takes up the position, Larssen will no longer be managing director,” said Leo McEwan, public relations officer at the ministry of transport.

McIntosh will hold the position of president, which has been vacant since former president, Sterling Soares, left office last April to make way for Larssen. In his three years as president, Soares oversaw the expansion of the bus service to the entire Kingston Metropolitan Area, the introduction of the luxury express bus service and the smart card cashless system.

McIntosh, the new man at the helm, was appointed on the advice of JUTC chairman, Noel Hylton. A mechanical engineer, McIntosh is the former managing director of West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco). He has extensive experience elsewhere in the mining sector, having worked for Alcan Jamaica Ltd. He studied at Harvard Business School, University of the West Indies and Syracuse University.

Larssen, whom he replaces, was part of a team of Swedish consultants that came to the island two years ago to implement efficiency measures for the ailing Government-run bus company. In January 2003, Larssen and his team recommended a 90 per cent increase in bus fares for adults.

They also recommended that the company cut close to 300 people in the “first phase” of ongoing and across-the-board downsizing efforts intended to make the hemorrhaging company profitable.

To date, there has been a fifty per cent increase in bus fares – per stage – for adults, some 200 employees have lost their jobs, while there have been resignations by two top executives – John Campbell, the vice-president of engineering, and Alton Fletcher, who acted as head of human resources.