The Government says it will be refurbishing 105 buses as part of short-term measures to improve the service offered by Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), which has fallen short in supplying the required fleet for commuters with a roll-out of just 175 units per day.

This rehabilitation initiative is among a raft of strategies Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz unveiled during a statement to Parliament on Tuesday.

“While the company and the Government are actively working on advancing the acquisition of the 300 buses over the next three years, 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,” he told the House.

He said that the buses, which are as old as 14 to 15 years, include 25 Golden Dragon, 30 articulated, and 50 Volvo, which will be refurbished by the factory “coming here and redoing both the interior and exterior and the engines”.

“The cost to refurbish these buses… will be about 30 to 40 per cent of the cost of a new bus, the highest being the Volvo bus at a cost of US$300,000. The other two buses are $200,000… So there are savings,” he said.

Vaz said the Golden Dragon buses will service hill routes — downtown Kingston to Stony Hill, Above Rocks to Half-Way-Tree, and Border to Half-Way-Tree; while the other types would be assigned to the other routes that are now underserved.

“The good thing is that these buses will start to be delivered in April of 2024 going to May 2025. So once again, these are short-term solutions to ease the pressures of the demand and the waiting time. So through the execution of this initiative we will be able to rehabilitate buses at a significantly lower cost and, of course, more importantly it will be to the benefit of the commuting public,” Vaz said.

But Opposition spokesman on transport Mikael Phillips questioned the logic of repairing old buses “while we are subsidising the JUTC at $78 billion annually”.

“We have subsidised it about $50 billion over the last six years. We have to look at the JUTC as a growing concern… It can’t continue the way that it is and expect that taxpayers will continue to subsidise it while children and elderly in my constituency… and other rural parishes don’t have the same subsidy, and have to pay full fare,” Phillips argued.

“You have… the Opposition support on the improvement of the service of the JUTC, but it cannot be business as usual as we have seen in the past. It is too much of taxpayers’ money really going down the drain,” he added.

Vaz also announced plans for the development of a mobile application to allow commuters to access real-time information about bus routes, estimated arrival times and any service disruptions.

In addition, he said the ministry is now preparing a Cabinet note for the use of a completely cashless system for the proposed reduction in bus fares, effective April 1, 2024. He said that commuters who pay their fares using a smartcard, come April 1, will benefit from the 50 per cent fare reduction. In addition, they will receive an added benefit of three free rides which will apply to both current and new cardholders.

To improve commuter safety, Vaz said the Government is also seeking to have internal and external surveillance cameras installed in each bus.

“This addition will facilitate close monitoring and recording of activity. This will not only serve to deter potential criminal activity but also assist incident investigation and resolution. Special analytics cameras with facial recognition will also be installed at security posts to record any unauthorised dispatching of buses. Furthermore, the JUTC has partnered with Crime Stop to apprehend perpetrators who deliberately vandalise Government property. This is in conjunction with the JUTC’s Franchise Protection Department and the Jamaica Constabulary Force,” he said.