Luxury bus service company Knutsford Express Services Limited is defending an upcoming price increase across all routes, which it has largely attributed to rising expenses and the continued impacts of inflationary pressures on its business.

CEO Oliver Townsend speaking with the Jamaica Observer on Monday sought to assure customers that the ‘small increase’ set to take place on November 1, 2024 will not significantly push-up current prices.

Prices for tickets as per the current fare table now hovers around $1,000-$4,500 based on route and passenger class.

“Like most other businesses, we, too, have had to deal with increased costs owing to rising expenses across several areas of our operation, which has continued to take bigger and bigger chunks of our revenues. In light of this, we will have to cushion some of this impact with a relatively small price increase that should be about 5-6 per cent on what is now charged,” he told the Business Observer.

Expenses, which the CEO said have considerably grown in the last year, has up to the end of the company’s last financial year ended May 31, 2024 totalled $1.6 billion — 25 per cent above that for 2023. For the 12-month period, a profit of $309.4 million was earned on the back of $1.96 billion in revenues.

At the end of the first quarter period ended August, the company’s net profit was $67 million, compared to $86 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company’s directors said that dip was largely impacted by additional staff expenses incurred during the three-month period. Other expenses related to increased toll costs and those from a number of suppliers, the CEO said, were also responsible for the fall-out.

Administrative and general expenses for the first three months stood at $450.8 million — almost 19 per cent more than the comparable period in 2023. In its quest to further improve the customer experience, greater investments in its workforce and bus systems were also cited among some of the other areas in which funds were spent.

“As we continue to invest in staff training, which remains a big thing for us, we’re also investing in new rolling stock/vehicles even as we continue to undertake much-needed upgrades across all our offices in order to improve the overall travel experience,” Townsend said.

Customers, who have bemoaned the imminent increase in prices, said the company would be better served if it could focus attention on major inadequacies in parts of its service delivery, some of which included the absence of Wi-Fi aboard buses among a number of other challenges.

Townsend, in admitting to difficulties in the area, however, said that steps are being taken as the company continues to work with service providers to bring about desired improvements.

“We acknowledge that in terms of the Wi-Fi challenge of which customers complain, we do have some issues, a lot of it stems from wider connectivity issues across the country of which we have no control and are not exempted. Despite the hiccups, we remain committed to ensuring quality in our service delivery and we are not backing off our investments as we continue to take the necessary steps to grow the business,” he stated.

In an update on its courier business, of which notice previously came announcing a discontinuation of its international shipping and e-commerce services, Townsend said that while there has been a scale back in some parts of this segment, the other areas remains up and running.

“What we had was a small pilot project involving some other things we wanted to pursue in the area, but after deep analysis, we decided to forego on those plans. We’re, however, still very strong in terms of our local courier service and we’re actually now looking to see how we can strengthen this further. “

The local courier service currently offers same-day delivery across major cities and towns, operating seven days a week.

“Outside of our 19 locations across the island, we’re now getting ready to welcome the 20th in January as we move into St Thomas at the Morant Bay Urban Centre. We’re really looking forward to this as with this location we will be able to serve all parishes in Jamaica and we will be immensely proud of this achievement,” Townsend said.

“In addition to our new location we’re also looking forward to the completion of that coastal road along the eastern belt, particularly that leg between Port Antonio and Morant Bay, from which we can beef up our services, offering more connectivity for passengers travelling east from Portland going St Thomas through Kingston,” he added.

Knutsford Express, which operates a diversified business, now has subsidiaries spread across the areas of transportation, investment and courier services.