APPROXIMATELY 25 per cent of Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s (JUTC) fleet is down as the company suffers from a lack of spare parts and struggles to keep trained and experienced mechanics.

At the same time, buses in operation continue to suffer breakdowns although the State-run company says regular servicing is done to keep buses on the road to transport commuters mainly in the Kingston Metropolitan Region, as well as Spanish Town and Portmore in St Catherine.

According to information obtained by the Jamaica Observer through the provisions of the Access to Information Act, the JUTC says it has 557 buses in its fleet, with 415 now in service.

The Portmore depot, which has the largest fleet of 207 buses, has only 145 in service, while of the 179 assigned to the Spanish Town depot 130 are in service, and 140 of the 171 assigned to the Rockfort depot in Kingston are in active service.

“A lack of sufficient funding to procure adequate spare parts and material to properly service and maintain the buses continues to be a major challenge at the JUTC,” said the company’s Managing Director Paul Abrahams in response to the Observer’s questions.

“In addition, the high attrition rate for mechanics migrating overseas to take up more attractive job opportunities has been adversely affecting the JUTC’s maintenance department,” he added.

According to Abrahams, the migration of highly skilled mechanics also affects the calibre of the remaining workforce and the quality of work.

“It is usually the most qualified workers who migrate, leaving behind the lower-skilled and inexperienced mechanics who are more likely to produce sub-par quality of work. The constant need to hire and train new mechanics also detracts focus away from achieving the true mission and vision of the department,” Abrahams explained.

He noted that the JUTC’s 109 mechanics service and maintain its Volvo and DAF buses, as the Golden Dragon buses are serviced by the dealer.

The JUTC head argued that there is a regular maintenance schedule for all its buses, which is usually executed as planned 90 per cent of the time.

Even then, buses at times experience road failures, he said, which the company attributed to punctures, air pressure defects, starting problems, gearbox defects, charging system defects, door malfunctions, suspension defects, and air conditioning defects.

Abrahams underscored that keeping buses on the road comes at a very high price tag.

A breakdown provided by the JUTC showed that $1.042 billion was spent on maintenance for 2017-18; $1.1 billion in 2018-19; $1.49 billion in 2019-20, and $361 million up to May this year.

In the meantime, the JUTC said of the buses now out of service 95 are at various stages of disrepair awaiting spare parts.

However, 58 buses have been deemed irreparable and set aside for write-off by the Ministry of Transport’s Permanent Board of Survey. Approximately 100 buses have been retired over the past five years. These are mostly scrapped for parts and some sold as scrap.

The bus company also reported that its fleet is ageing, as only 139 buses have been purchased in the last five years. Seventy-five were acquired in 2014-15; 27 in 2015-16; 35 in 2016-17; and two in 2017-18.

“No approval has been received from the Ministry of Finance for the purchase of buses for the next five years,” said Abrahams.

But, despite the challenges, the bus company said a fare increase is not included in its 2020-21 budget.

The company, which charges $100 for regular adult rides, collected $4.5 billion in fares in 2018 and just under $4 billion last year.