OPPOSITION spokesman on transport Mikael Phillips has welcomed the announcement by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke that starting in the next fiscal year 200 electric buses are to be acquired over the next three years, to boost the fleet of the floundering State-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).

But Phillips has expressed concern that, given the maintenance issues plaguing the JUTC’s diesel fleet, the cash-strapped company might not have the infrastructure to service and maintain these buses.

“It [the 200 electric units] will not bring the JUTC where it needs to be over the short term, but it is a good plan… there needs to be a plan to ensure that the infrastructure for the electric buses is put in place, that we have persons that are able to work on those buses, because as it is right now we do not have enough mechanics to work on those buses,” Phillips told the Jamaica Observer.

“The cost to maintain the electric buses is much more expensive than the maintenance of the diesel buses. But it is a step in the right direction and I commend the Government,” Phillips added.

In announcing the plan to upgrade the JUTC’s fleet Dr Clarke, during his presentation to open the 2023/2024 Budget Debate on Tuesday, told the House of Representatives that with more than half of the bus company’s units being over 10 years old, maintenance and operating costs are high, forcing increased budgetary support — $7 billion in the upcoming fiscal year — from the public purse.

The newest buses in the JUTC’s fleet include five CNG Golden Dragon units purchased in 2019; 35 Golden Dragon units purchased in 2016; and 200 Volvo buses delivered between 2011 and 2014.

Clarke reminded the House that 70 new buses, including 45 diesel, 20 CNG, and five electric are currently on order, but stressed that there is still a critical gap in the fleet. The 70 buses are slated for delivery in the new fiscal year.

The JUTC, with a projected accumulated deficit of almost $17 billion by the end of the next fiscal year hanging over its operations, currently runs out an average of just under 200 buses daily, less than half the number of units needed to provide adequate service to the public.

At the same time, the company is spending $2.9 billion on spare parts for its aged fleet, in the current fiscal year.

The bus company is seeking to increase its fleet by 50 in the new fiscal year to boost ridership by 72 per cent, at an average of 85,000 passengers per day.

Despite this projection the company’s revenue is expected to grow at a slower rate of 63 per cent, and it needs an average of 288 buses to run out each day to meet that projection. The State-run bus company carries roughly 50,000 passengers per day on less than 176 units, on average.

Incorporated in 1998, the JUTC was given a mandate to provide a safe, reliable, modern, efficient, and cost effective transportation service to the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region.