KINGSTON, Jamaica — Come mid-July public passenger vehicle (PPV) operators are to benefit from a discount of between $3 and $8 per litre on fuel at select gas stations across the island.

This discount comes as part of a partnership between the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODDS), TOTAL Energies Jamaica Limited and LASCO Financial Services.

Speaking with Observer Online, President of TODDS, Egeton Newman, noted that the partnership, despite being spearheaded by his organisation would benefit all PPV operators in the space.

“Develop by TODDS and its stakeholders [the partnership] will see transport operators receiving a major discount when they purchase fuel at the island’s TOTAL service stations, all 76 of them,  this is a programme not just for TODDS members, but all public transport operators,” explained  Newman.

“We have been waiting for this for many, many years now.  We have been discussing this project for two and a half years now, even more than that, for more than three years and about 11 months,” he added.

Newman estimates that one taxi operator utilises at a minimum 25 litres of fuel per day, adding that the savings to be had from the partnership will amount to millions of dollars, which he says will give ease to some operators.

“We can’t say exactly how much is the discount, but we are looking at between $3 and $8 per litre, which to us is a major discount noting the amount of litres we utilise per day. One taxi operator will utilise, at minimum, 25 litres of fuel and so you could judge the amount that a bus would use,” he said.

Newman further shared that the partnership would see registered PPV operators receiving Lasco Financial gold cards that they can present at service stations to receive their discounts.