The Jamaica Urban Transportation Company (JUTC), has sought to explain the dark tinting on its buses, in the wake of complains by minibus operators who had tints removed from their vehicles earlier this year.

Last week Auto published a story where minibus drivers knocked the Transport Ministry for allowing dark tints on JUTC buses while forcefully removing other tinted passenger vehicles from the Corporate Area roads.

In a response Wednesday, the JUTC said that the dark tinting on their new buses was factory-applied and could not be readily separated from the windows of the buses.

The JUTC further explained that “the darker tinting apparently arose because of a difference in the newly applied standard in Jamaica, and [that] in Europe, where the ISO 35-38 per cent specification is applied in respect of tinting on public passenger vehicles.”

According to the JUTC, a request to the Belgium bus manufacturers for “normal” tinting resulted in the supply of ISO 35-38 per cent, instead of the local standard, which was applied since late last year.

Disgruntled operators, however, still insist that when the transport ministry removed tints from mini-buses they were informed that all tinting of passenger vehicles was against the Road Traffic Act.

Corporate communications manager at the JUTC, Reginald Allen, yesterday told Auto that there is not an established standard for tinting of passenger vehicles in Jamaica.

“The Act speaks to visibility, not specifically to the level of tinting,” said Allen.

Meanwhile the JUTC, in its release, said that since the introduction of the latest set of JUTC buses last month, concern has been raised about the level of inward visibility that the tinting affords.

It added that transport minister, Mike Henry, noted the public concern and has mandated that efforts be made to remedy the situation.

According to the JUTC, it is now in contact with both the manufacturers and dealers of the buses, to determine the available options going forward.