JAMAICANS could know this week when the Government intends to implement the long-planned increase in bus and taxi fares.

Minister with responsibility for transport Daryl Vaz told the Jamaica Observer that a timeline for the increase should be set this week following the first meeting of an inter-agency steering committee which he has established to look at all aspects of the public transportation sector.

Vaz said the steering committee came out of a retreat he staged with major players in the public transportation system in Ocho Rios, St Ann, last week.

The committee includes representatives of the public transport associations, the Island Traffic Authority, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Transport Authority, the National Works Agency, and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

Vaz also extended an invitation to the Opposition spokesperson on transport Mikael Phillips to serve on this committee. Phillips has since told the Observer that he intends to take up the invitation.

“It is expected that the steering committee will be integral in the discussions to achieve an appropriate fare structure which will guarantee financial viability for all stakeholders involved as well as affordability for the commuting public,” said Vaz.

“I accept that a fare increase was committed to in 2021, of which they only received a part of the increase and two years have passed, but my aim is to consider an increase in parallel with improvements in the transport system so commuters can see improvements and justify the increase,” added Vaz during an interview with the Observer.

Fares for public passenger vehicles were last increased by 15 per cent in 2021. Since then transport operators have been pressing the Government for another increase.

In one of his last public pronouncements as minister of transport, Audley Shaw used his contribution to the 2023-2024 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives in May to announce that the Government was committed to the fare hike.

“We are looking at the potential for fare increases,” said Shaw, even as he declared that these fares must be strictly adhered to instead of the current system in which some bus and taxi operators are charging more than the official fare.

For the better part of the last two years transport operators have been pointing to escalating costs, including the price of fuel, as justification for an increase.

Late last month, Egerton Newman, president of one of the most vocal groups, the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), indicated that they would be asking for a 120 per cent increase in fares before the end of this year.

“I am very positive. As a matter of fact, let me tell you, last year the minister [Audley Shaw] said we will get a fare increase. We did not apply for the fare increase at that time, but now we have applied… and we were assured by this present minister that we will be getting a fare increase,” stated Newman.

“My proposal to the Government is for 120 per cent. Now I’m a businessman; therefore, we can sit at the table and look at it, but right now, the true fare travel for the sector is a 120 per cent fare increase,” added Newman as he urged commuters to accept that they will have to pay more.

“If the passengers want better from the sector, if the passengers want a clean sector [or] a safe sector, they have to pay the true cost for travel, that’s all I can say. You are demanding a certain standard of the sector, this sector is demanding also certain things from the Government — and that is a proper fare increase,” said Newman.