MONTEGO BAY, St James — Work is expected to start, by the end of the week, on a $4.7-million smart bus stop, the first one for Montego Bay.

The project, which is expected to be completed in six weeks, is part of the city’s wider Urban Renewal Project and all the stops are being pulled out to ensure that it will provide a safe and efficient service.

“We have our cameras that the police have access to. Anything that takes place within the vicinity of this set-up, the police will have access to it,” Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon assured Tuesday during the official ground-breaking ceremony.

The bus stop will be erected at the entrance to the heavily used Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Mount Salem. Using free Wi-Fi that is expected to be made available by Digicel as part of the project, commuters will be able to scan QR codes to access transport operator groups.

“The important part of this set-up now is that the police are also monitoring what is happening, because we have seen what has happened with ride sharing and those things,” Vernon explained.

“Recently, we heard of other cases in Kingston where some persons got into some issues pertaining to ride sharing. So, we want the police to be in those groups, monitoring the persons who are doing the pick-up,” he added.

According to the mayor, the general area will be well-lit so commuters can easily see what is going on around them.

“If you pass here in the night, you’ll note that this area is very dark. We want to ensure that it has the requisite lighting to enhance the security within the space so policing can be easier, so persons feel safe and protected,” he said.

Head of the police in St James, Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels, said his team members would be doing their part to keep the area safe.

“With our reduction in crime, we intend to increase our community engagement and we will be doing a lot more community policing and even ensuring that this bus stop right here remains a safe spot for persons,” he said.

“It’s right across from the police station and we want to ensure that we keep that engagement, keep the patrols checking on what’s happening here so that we don’t have a nine-day wonder in terms of persons feeling safe. It will be continued as a safe spot for persons to come who want to seek medical attention or persons going to school,” Samuels assured.

He floated the possibility of integrating other aspects of policing work into the smart bus stop system.

“Maybe we’ll have to put our QR codes there as well, that will give you access to information about wanted persons or safety tips or additional things,” Samuels said.

The smart bus stop, which will have a contemporary design, is expected to serve thousands of people who use or work at CRH. The hospital’s pedestrian entrance will also be upgraded as part of the initiative.

“This is not a bus stop that we are talking about today, it is a complete transformation of a space that has been misused for a very long time. This space, I recall, had a shop and random operations within the space, persons squatting in the area,” Vernon said.

“That cannot be the face of a hospital, just can’t be. We decided to take the necessary actions to restore the area to its original state and then, to do more to improve the aesthetics, to improve the landscaping, to improve the accommodation and then, to top it all off, we add a smart bus stop in the area,” he said.

He stressed that the smart bus stop aligns with upgrades being made to CRH.

“Cornwall Regional Hospital will no longer be just a hospital, but a health campus,” the mayor declared.

“Based on the concept, based on the expression, based on what is being implemented by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, a health campus will have at least 2,000 staff members — and that is just staff members, think about the patients,” Vernon said.

He foresees similar bus stops in other sections of the parish.

“This project is scalable, we can take it and implement it in other sections across St James until we have an organised transportation system,” said the mayor.

“If we are moving to a sustainable city, it must be beyond concept, it must be reality, and we have to do these things — inclusivity, implementation of scalable, adaptable projects — to move to a sustainable city,” he added.

Head of the police in St James Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels, speaking during Tuesday’s ground-breaking ceremony for Montego Bay’s first-ever smart bus stop.

Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon (fourth right) and other stakeholders symbolically break ground for Montego Bay’s first-ever smart bus stop on Tuesday. From left are Senior Superintendent of Police Eron Samuels; president of Citymove Taxi Services Conroy Smith; Custos of St James Bishop Conrad Pitkin; CEO of the St James Municipal Corporation Naudia Crosskill; former mayor of Montego Bay Leeroy Williams; regional director for Western Regional Health Authority St Andrade Sinclair; and director of nursing services at Cornwall Regional Health Hospital Gillian Ledgister.