Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Sunday announced free transport on the State-run bus service for all schoolchildren and tertiary students for two months when the new academic year opens in September.

The pronouncement was greeted by loud and sustained cheers from thousands of supporters of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) at a mass rally in Half-Way-Tree square where he announced that Jamaica will go to the poll in the next general election on Wednesday, September 3, 2025.

Holness, the JLP leader, explained that tertiary students will be required to show their identification to access the free transportation service on Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses.

“I’m going to come back to the reasoning behind that, but we have more buses to come, so you are going to have a First World public transportation system that will get you to work on time and in comfort and affordably,” he said.

“This is a part of our productivity thrust; if you want people to be productive, get them to work on time, get them to work in a good frame of mind, and take away the worry about cost of living, which transportation is a major part of cost of living,” he said.