As part of efforts to deter vandals, the state-run Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) has formed a partnership with Crime Stop that will see up to $100,000 being offered for information leading to the arrest and charge of persons who continue to stone, thus causing damage to its buses.

The announcement was made earlier this week by the Minister of Transport and Mining, Audley Shaw, during his contribution to the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate.

Shaw said the partnership is aimed at stopping what he called the “menacing problem of bus vandalism caused by stone-throwing incidents”. He disclosed that incidents of stone-throwing resulted in 70 buses being damaged last year and the partnership aims to put an end to this “dangerous practice”.

In November last year, two persons were injured and five JUTC buses damaged in a spate of stone-throwing incidents in the Three Miles area of St Andrew in a single day.

A driver and a female passenger received injuries as a result of the action of the vandals.

Two weeks earlier the JUTC had appealed to the public to desist from damaging its buses which were costing millions of dollars to repair.

The Three Miles area where the Hunts Bay police station is located is particularly problematic for the JUTC as it relates to its buses being vandalized. Dozens of buses have been damaged in that area.