WATCH: Vaz reiterates that fare for students under the govt’s school bus programme is subsidised
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Energy, Transport and Telecommunications, Daryl Vaz has reiterated that students enrolled in the National Rural School Bus Programme are only required to pay a subsidised fare of $50 per trip, as he sought to clarify misconceptions about the initiative.
Speaking at the PCJ Auditorium on Tuesday, Minister Vaz provided an update on the Rural School Bus Programme, which was officially rolled out in September 2025 to deliver safe, reliable and affordable transportation to students in underserved rural communities.
The minister emphasised that access to the programme’s fare card is free and readily available through participating schools.
“So I want to reiterate again that the card service is free and accessible at the schools through the teachers or the principal’s office,” he said.
He explained that once students receive the card, it can be topped up at Bill Express or any other entity that works with the card system.
Vaz added that beyond topping up the card, there are no additional costs attached to the service.
“So the fact that there’s no cost outside of the top up for the $50 per trip, $100 per day for use of the transportation, the rural transportation,” he said.
Minister Vaz acknowledged that greater public education is needed to eliminate what he described as a “grey area” in public understanding of the programme.
“So I think it’s important because I still think that there’s some gray area in terms of things that we have to ramp up on the public education both from the ministry level and JUTC and the ministry of education to make people understand that,” he added.
He explained the significant savings to families, noting that students are “only paying for a subsidised fare of $50 per trip as against $300 to $600 per day. $100 per day for a safe, economically convenient school bus service.”
The National Rural School Bus Programme forms part of the Government’s broader push to promote equitable access to education by reducing transportation barriers for students in rural Jamaica.
