KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators, (JATOO) says it has advised its members to stop working until it receives a response from both the ministries of Health and Wellness and Transport and Mining with regards to the effect of the coronavirus threat on the transportation sector.

“The transport sector has the most daily interpersonal contacts in the country. Our research has shown that each licensed operator carries a daily average of 80 paying passengers. These are 80 interpersonal contacts. Of the 40,000 licenses issued in 2019, we have a low estimate of 25000 PPV licenses in operation each day. This amounts to over two million daily interpersonal contacts,” JATOO said in a press release today.

It added that Jamaica Urban Transit Company reported 121,000 paying passengers daily.

“…we in JATOO, see the transport sector as a devastating vehicle for spreading the virus throughout Jamaica. This can be regarded as a crisis in the transport sector, Jamaica, the wider Caribbean and the rest of the world who visits Jamaica,” JATOO argued.

The association said it believes that in the interest of protecting the lives of passengers and that of service providers (drivers, owners and their families), it is best not to provide transportation service until the “deafening silence” from both ministries is broken.