DESPITE some schools not officially opening for classes on Monday when the new academic year started, students who were required to attend orientation exercises were still finding it difficult to secure transportation.

With the taxi parks in Half-Way-Tree and Papine in St Andrew being overrun with commuters — both adults and students alike — the frustration among the crowds was quickly building.

When the Jamaica Observer visited the locations, a grade nine Mona High School student said she had been waiting on a vehicle for close to an hour. She stood sweating as the sun climbed higher in the sky.

“The sun a bun me, man,” the child exclaimed as she attempted to hide behind a light pole at the Half-Way-Tree taxi park.

Echoing her statement, one of her schoolmates said, “I’m tired. Nuh taxi nuh deh yah.”

A parent, who had his grade two son in tow, said he had been waiting for a taxi for close to 15 minutes, but to no avail.

At the same time, an employee at The University of the West Indies, Mona, said she had been waiting for a taxi for over 20 minutes.

“None of the taxis are going all the way to campus,” she explained, adding that it usually doesn’t take her long to get a vehicle in the mornings.

Nonetheless, a number of students said they were excited for school.

“A long time mi nuh see mi friend dem. I’m glad I’ll get to see them today,” a student from Mona High School said.

While a grade 11 student from Immaculate Conception High School said, “Summer was fun, but I’m really looking forward to this school year.”

However, while the taxi parks were full, the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre was sparse, with only a handful of students milling about as they waited to board buses.

On August 25, it was reported that 50 buses would be added to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s (JUTC) fleet, and they are expected to be rolled out for the start of the new academic year, in an attempt to improve efficiency of the transportation company.

Additionally, earlier this year, then Minister of Transport and Mining Audley Shaw disclosed that 45 diesel and five electric buses would be added to the JUTC fleet by the end of May.

But the traffic in St Andrew was more than normal around 7:00 am, with vehicles flooding the streets, but moving at a steady pace. Police officers were strategically stationed as they maintained their vigilance and ensured that motorists adhered to the road code.

Around 8:30 am, a police officer stationed in Half-Way-Tree revealed that since arriving on the scene about 6:00 am, taxi operators had not presented any major problems, and only two tickets had been issued to two private vehicle drivers.

She described the flow of the traffic as “expected for back-to-school Monday morning”.

On Monday, Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams toured the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre, to mark the start of the new school year. She also toured four schools in Kingston and St Andrew. The tour began at 6:00 am and ended at 11:00 am. The schools were Tarrant High School, Mountain View Primary School, Hope View Experimental School, and Jack’s Hill Primary School.