KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesperson on Transport, Mikael Phillips, says the decision by the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) to abandon 23 routes represents a major breach of the company’s exclusive license under the Public Passenger Transport (Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) Act.

The announcement was made by Transport Minister Daryl Vaz on Wednesday during a post-cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

READ: JUTC ditches 23 routes that are being converted for route taxis

In a statement Friday morning, Phillips said the 23 routes account for more than 25 per cent of those in the KMTR, and their removal amounts to an abdication of the company’s responsibility to adequately provide service. Additionally, he said, it constitutes a breach of the exclusive license.

“It is now clear that the Government of Jamaica and the Minister of Transport in particular has decided to take a wrecking ball to the JUTC, smashing all hopes of a reliable and efficient public transport service in the capital city,” he said.

Phillips said it was now urgent for the minister to update the nation on the JUTC’s policy and operational plans. He said this was especially necessary given that while the company is abandoning its core responsibility in the KMTR, it has recently expanded service into six rural routes already licensed to private operators.

Additionally, he noted that hackney carriage licenses were recently flung open in the KMTR. The minister, he argued, has a duty to clarify whether these are part of a new policy direction or simply piecemeal actions with the potential to devastate the sector.

The Opposition spokesman said converting city bus routes into taxi routes is a retrograde step and a setback for the more than half a million transit-dependent persons in the KMTR. This includes children, students, pensioners, the elderly and persons with disabilities, who are entitled to concessionary fares, Phillips said.

He added that the lack of adequate road infrastructure and taxi parking will only worsen traffic congestion and increase transit times in the city.

Phillips questioned whether the minister, the JUTC and the Transport Authority (TA) were abandoning the routes due to a lack of effective regulatory control or whether it was an admission that the company lacked the seating capacity to provide efficient service.

He asserted that a proper plan was urgently needed, for the JUTC to fulfil its obligations and to provide a more certain operating environment for private investors in the public transport system while improving the performance of the Transport Authority as a regulator.