Mike Henry, minister of transport and mining says the government has budgeted $1.3 billion to purchase spare parts for Jamaica Urban Transport Company (JUTC) buses for 2016/17.

He said that Cabinet has already approved approximately $1 billion ($985 million) to start the process.

He also admits the company needs additional buses urgently, and that he is exploring options for importing them.

“However, the immediate focus is on the procurement of spare parts for refurbishing the buses,” the minister explained.

Henry’s responses to a number of questions tabled in the House of Representatives by the Opposition’s spokesman on transport, Mikhael Phillips, follow increasing discontent expressed by urban commuters with the service currently being offered by the JUTC.

A number of complaints are coming from commuters who often spend hours in the morning trying to get to work. These customers appear to want to remain loyal to the city’s public bus service, but must balance that with the possibility of being fired for lateness.

The situation has also been forcing them into the arms of illegally operated transportation services, unless the “robots” can be kept off the bus-only routes by the police and the Transport Authority.

Paul Abrahams, MD at the JUTC, recently admitted in a radio interview that the company has been out of bus parts since September last year.

Abrahams said that although the bus fleet is made up of approximately 580 buses, the daily run-out now is down to only 385 buses per day.

This means that the company is short of 195 buses daily. Ninety-nine of these buses are out for up to 180 days or more; 50 per cent of the other 96 can be brought back shortly if parts become available, while the other 50 per cent will require major repairs.

Abrahams says the company will need approximately 435 buses for full performance. But, that is not likely to be the case before early 2017.

“The problem is that the company basically had no parts since September of last year, and the moment the new JUTC board came in I immediately advised that I was going to have an issue with the fleet falling down, because of a lack of parts,” Abrahams said.

He explained that the shortage started seriously affecting the company about January this year, and since May-June it started to experience the decline in the run-out. However, he said that the JUTC should have parts in the system by December.

“We should have a fleet of 420-430 by January, which would be more than adequate to handle the market,” he said.

– Balford Henry