Just over a week after the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) launched its operations in St Thomas, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz revealed plans on Tuesday to redevelop the Church Street Transport Centre in Morant Bay.

This redevelopment aims to create a more convenient, organised, and safe space for public passenger vehicles, including the newly introduced JUTC buses to efficiently pick up passengers.The announcement comes as the parish continues to adjust to the new bus service, which began on December 2, with four buses assigned to the Morant Bay-to-Kingston and Yallahs-to-Kingston routes.

During a tour of the parish on Tuesday, Vaz emphasised the need for adjustments to the current layout of the transport centre. He highlighted the importance of creating a functional and organised space to support the JUTC’s operations and facilitate a smoother commuter experience.

“This location is ideal, it’s spacious, it has infrastructure and everything, all it really requires is some planning, in terms of some adjustments of the layout,” said Vaz.

He highlighted the importance of ensuring that the transport centre can handle not only the new JUTC buses but also other public passenger vehicles, including taxis and coaster buses.

In the meantime, president of the St Thomas Taxi Association Louis Milwood said taxi operators were not using the transport centre, which causes congestion on the road during busy periods.

“If the police are not on the road in the mornings then the taxis don’t come into the park, and I would like to see a difference in that, especially going into this festive season; we want to have more space on the road and less congestion,” he said during the tour by Vaz.

Milwood suggested that an improved centre would encourage more taxi operators to make use of the space provided for them.

“I would like you to look at the bathroom facilities because when the JUTC bus comes in there will be an influx of customers coming in, so I would like you to look at the bathroom facilities so we can have enough space,” he said.

Additionally, Milwood said the bus centre on Wharf Road, which serves as the terminus for buses in Morant Bay as well as serving people travelling to the eastern parts of the parish, is in need of urgent attention.

“A lot of emphasis needs to be placed on that one, because it is a road being transformed into a bus park and there is a lot of work to be done there, because, for safety, it needs a lot of lighting and all of those trees need to be cut down because when I talk about safety I speak about the safety of the children,” he said.

“We need to get all the taxis moved from the front because when the fire trucks have an emergency and are coming down, [those taxis] poses a problem and we don’t want any form of accident pertaining to the fire department and the taxi operators; we just need a smooth transition of things around there,” he added.

As it relates to Yallahs, Vaz expressed concerned that the area has no transport centre despite having several public passenger vehicles operating in the town. He said discussions will begin to have a space for public vehicles to pick up passengers.

“Member of Parliament James Robertson has indicated that there’s a possibility that there may be a site at the old market in Yallahs which he’ll have discussions with the minister of local government and the municipal corporation to see whether or not that could actually serve a dual purpose – both as a market and transport centre,” he said.

Robertson, the Member of Parliament for St Thomas Western, who joined Vaz on the tour, echoed the importance of the redevelopment plans. He noted that this effort is part of a broader vision for the development of St Thomas.