BEFORE he leaves to take up his new job as a deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on October 31, Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke made sure to sign off on a number of key initiatives designed to benefit the public transportation sector and place the Government in good standing with the commuting public.

Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz made the declaration on Tuesday at the handover ceremony of 100 new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) at the State-owned company’s depot in Braeton, Portmore, St Catherine.

The new buses, some of which are fitted with ramps to accommodate the disabled, were purchased for approximately $3 billion using money from the consolidated fund, a move that was greatly celebrated by Vaz as it is the first time that Government has been able to purchase so many buses without having to acquire a loan.

Vaz said the new buses will not only alleviate the problems experienced by commuters in the western end of the island, but will bring relief, as of today, to those who take buses on what he described as misery routes in the Kingston metropolitan region.

That description, he explained, was due to the fact that each day commuters have to wait hours to get buses.

The misery routes, Vaz said, are Spanish Town to Half-Way-Tree; Spanish Town to downtown Kingston; Greater Portmore to Half-Way-Tree and downtown Kingston; Price Rite to downtown Kingston; Chancery Street to downtown Kingston; Spanish Town to Cross Roads; Border and Above Rocks to Temple Hall; downtown Kingston to Bull Bay; downtown Kingston to Norman Manley International Airport and Port Royal; Harbour View to downtown Kingston; and downtown Kingston to Gordon Town.

“Look out and message me if you nuh see bus till bus stone you,” he said, adding that he has already charged the company to improve efficiency and ensure that wait time is reduced on all routes, including the new routes of Temple Hall and Gordon Town.

“I can say to you that eight reconditioned hill route buses are being rolled out Wednesday morning as well as 16 more to come by the end of the year,” Vaz said.

“I had a meeting with Dr Clarke before the IMF announcement. He has approved the funding for the three-year service contract for these 100 buses. He has approved the refurbishing of 30 articulated buses that are parked all over the place. When those 30 buses roll out we will clean up Half-Way-Tree and clean up Portmore and Spanish Town. You will have the new buses plus the reconditioned buses. We have refurbished eight of the hill route buses. He has approved the other 16 which we will start immediately so that we can get that amount ready for January morning,” he said.

“He has agreed for a second set of 100 buses which he already committed in his budget speech but with my urging he has agreed for us to pay the deposit on this side of the financial year. So we can get the next 100 buses in the same time period, which is June to July of 2025, rather than the end of 2025 to 2026. Last but not least, he has approved for us to get 30 new premium coach charter buses for charter service that is used by so many churches, schools, funerals, and everything else,” Vaz said.

He pointed out that 15 years ago the JUTC was expanded by 200 buses which were financed by a consortium of banks out of Europe, as there was no fiscal space to purchase them without a loan.

“Any idea of an investment of this nature would have been seen as a pipe dream. It was seen as mission impossible. Jamaica has found a way to make the impossible, possible. Since 2023, 170 buses have been purchased at a cost of $5 billion without loans or begging. The pipe dream has been met by the Andrew Holness-led dream team,” Vaz said.

With the switch from using diesel fuel to CNG, the JUTC will save millions of dollars daily, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said at the ceremony.

Holness threw a barb at Opposition People’s National Party, saying that there are people who will come dressed in bright colours, who speak very well but have never delivered what the Jamaica Labour Party Government has.

“They tell you how it is their time; there will always be those people, but the question is: Can they deliver? Have they delivered? We are delivering these buses today and we are able to do so because we have entrenched good fiscal and monetary policies. I want the Jamaican public to see these new buses as an expression of our economic independence. I want you to use these buses to increase our productivity as a people. We waste millions of man hours in waiting [in traffic] when we could be doing more productive activities,” he said.

“We will save about $1.8 billion by just switching the fuel,” Holness said.