KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesman on Transport, Mikael Phillips, is urging Jamaicans to view with skepticism the Government’s recent announcement of expanded long-haul and city-to-city services under the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).

In a strongly worded statement, Phillips criticised the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration for launching new services in what he described as the “dying moments” of its term, despite years of what he labeled as “colossal failure” in maintaining the core functions of the JUTC.

“It [the JLP] is announcing multiple new JUTC services, even while it has been a colossal failure at delivering the core service that it was established to do,” said Phillips.

This comes a day after the government hosted a handover ceremony of 93 new buses to the JUTC.

Read: New buses, new routes JUTC set to launch service across rural Jamaica, including direct express rides from Kingston.

Phillips pointed to declines in JUTC performance metrics since the JLP took office in 2016.

According to Phillips, annual ridership has dropped from 63 million to 18 million as of 2024, while student ridership has reportedly nosedived from 100,000 daily passengers to just 5,500.

He added that the number of operational buses has also shrunk drastically, from 450 to approximately 170 as of last year.

The Manchester northern western member of parliament reminded the public that the JUTC was established in 1998 to provide modern, safe, and reliable transportation within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) under an exclusive licence. However, he argued, those goals have been undermined by years of mismanagement and underinvestment.

“Instead of fixing what’s broken and restoring abandoned KMTR routes, where the need is greatest, the government is parading a few new buses around as if it’s an achievement. This is not leadership; it is election-year theatrics,” he said.

Noting that while the Opposition welcomes any improvements to the public fleet, he emphasised that the government should focus on rebuilding the JUTC’s capacity and delivering on its original mandate.

He also expressed concern that the expansion has raised alarms among private sector operators, including publicly listed companies like Knutsford Express.

“This government is operating without a clear public transport policy,” he said. “What the country needs is a proper, mordent transportation system, one grounded in good planning, responsible management and public trust”.