KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) will be embarking on a massive refurbishing programme to return over 100 buses to service.

This is in addition to the 300 new buses that the Government has committed to purchasing over the next three years.

The Minister of Transport, Daryl Vaz, made the announcement on Tuesday in a ministerial statement in the House of Representatives.

He said that while steps are being taken to procure new buses, including 100 that are set to arrive on the island between June and July, “we will still need to address the system which needs more safe and dependable units to fully address the need for more units”.

“It has therefore been decided that the JUTC will embark on a bus refurbishing programme which will see 105 buses refurbished on a phased basis by the local dealers,” the minister added.

Some 25 Golden Dragon, 30 articulated and 50 B7R buses will be retrofitted.

Vaz noted that 20 9m Golden Dragon buses that were built specifically for the hill routes such as: 52 (downtown to Stony Hill); 53 – (Above Rocks to Half-Way Tree Transport Centre – HWTTC); and 54 – (HWTTC to Border) will be refurbished between April and December 2024. The additional five 9m Golden Dragon buses will be completed by May 2025.

“Discussions are underway with the local Volvo dealer regarding the 30 articulated and 50 B7R buses. Adequate spare parts for the refurbishing programme are presently being ordered and it is anticipated that commuter wait times will decrease as a result of these units’ restoration, particularly on high-frequency routes, such as 23A, 53, 54, 75, 83, 1A, and 5A,” Vaz said.

He said that through the execution of this initiative, the government will be able to rehabilitate buses at a significantly lower cost than purchasing new ones; extending their life span by at least five years and satisfying the overall need for dependable and safe buses without placing an undue burden on the government’s resources.

The proposal has been referred to the Public Procurement Commission for its endorsement.

Representatives of the companies involved will come to Jamaica to carry out the refurbishing and Vaz said he will give instructions to ensure that there is transfer of knowledge so the refurbishing could be undertaken by Jamaicans in the future.

He was responding to a question from the Member of Parliament for St Mary Central, Dr Morais Guy, about whether a programme to repair JUTC buses and which involved the Maxfield Avenue-based German Auto School has been scrapped.