Public passenger vehicle (PPV) operators are to benefit from the Government’s reintroduction of an aged vehicle policy which, it says, will assist them to retool and upgrade their fleet.

This policy will allow for existing PPV operators to import motor cars up to 10 years old and buses up to 20 years for use in that sector.

Making the disclosure during his contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz said that in order to ensure the vehicles are used for their intended purpose, a lien will be placed on the vehicles by the Trade Board.

“We will be working through that and making an announcement on the finer details in short order,” he said.

In the meantime, the minister also announced that a total of 16 new routes will be offered to the PPV sector that will enable them to earn additional income.

“Five of those routes will be stage carriage routes which will operate under a subfranchise from the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) and will be for the use of coaster and minibuses only operating through Half-Way-Tree and terminating in downtown Kingston,” he said.

He noted that these routes will originate from Shortwood, Barbican, Duhaney Park, Whitehall, Havendale, and Harbour View.

“The remaining 11 routes will be offered to taxi operators who have also been requesting additional routes to provide improved service to the public. These routes will be distributed throughout the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region,” he said.

Vaz explained that the routes that will be offered are routes the JUTC had but was not servicing as there were no buses to place on those routes.

Giving details on other initiatives to support PPV operators, Vaz noted that the Transport Authority has commenced work that will allow for people applying for road licences and commercial carriage licences to obtain their red plates directly rather than first purchasing a white plate and then upgrade. He said this move will help to improve the overall efficiency of the system.

“In response to numerous calls supported by an emerging niche in the PPV sector the Transport Authority has embarked on a review of the licence categories. The intention is to introduce a new VIP licence category for the contract carriage sector. To usher in this new licence type, amendments will have to be made to Section 61(5) of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Regulation 2000,” he said.