THE Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) has been forced to increase surveillance on several ‘problem routes’ after a spate of robberies on its fare boxes by criminals.

A company official who asked not to be named for “security reasons”, on Monday confirmed reports that there “have been a number of robberies” on its fare coffers but assured that “police surveillance of the problem routes has been significantly increased”.

“A number of robberies have been taking place downtown at the West Parade and Washington Boulevard areas; the problem routes have always been from Rockfort into downtown Kingston and along the Boulevard, but increased police surveillance over the last two weeks has reduced the number of robberies,” the official told the Observer.

The JUTC official said there have been some nine robberies monthly over the last six to eight months where the company lost roughly $5,000 on average at each heist. A conductress was also shot during an attempted robbery on the Washington Boulevard route.

But the company said the hits have been significantly reduced with the recent arrest of two ‘serial robbers’ who operated in the downtown Kingston and Six Miles area of Duhaney Park in St Andrew.

“Several meetings with the police and the commanding officers of the affected divisions have borne fruit resulting in far more police surveillance of problem routes,” a JUTC representative told the Observer on Monday.

Meantime, the JUTC is encouraging commuters to utilise its smart card system which it introduced in 2002 to the tune of J$200 million as a means of discouraging thieves.

The cards can be purchased and recharged in increments of $100, allowing riders the comfort of pre-paying for their transit.

The cards are equipped with an internal microchip which can be encoded with information such as the commuter’s name and address. With this security feature, a commuter’s lost or stolen card can be cancelled and the money refunded to the rightful owner.