NO revenue has been generated thus far from the Government’s rural school bus programme which was rolled out in September last year, causing concern for managing director of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) Owen Ellington.

Ellington was speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Energy, Transport and Telecommunications in St Andrew Tuesday to update the nation on the progress of the programme.

The Government-owned JUTC is tasked with running the programme which has a fleet of 110 used buses that were purchased for $1.2 billion. The programme is geared towards reducing the cost of transportation to students in rural parishes. The idea is to ensure that there can be no excuse for not being able to access education due to transportation issues.

While Ellington embraced the programme, he was not happy with the fact that the company is operating at a loss because of it. The programme offered students the opportunity to ride the buses for free up to the end of January. After that, the JUTC was to begin collecting from the students using an electronic bus card system. The cards can also be used as a means of tracking the students.

Ellington cited that there was a problem with distribution of the cards in schools, among other challenges that have caused the system not to work as anticipated. He estimated that around 16,000 students were being transported under the programme. If 16,000 children take the buses in the mornings and in the afternoons at $50 per student, the revenue per day would amount to around $1.6 million.

“We are appealing to the schools to distribute cards to the students, because some 4,000 cards are in the schools to be distributed to the children,” Ellington said. “We urge parents to ensure the cards are topped up, and we are appealing to the children to use the cards.”

He added: “It is a means by which the JUTC will earn some revenue. Up until this point we have not been earning any revenue but we have been spending tremendously, paying staff, and fuelling the buses, and conducting other operations.

“It is time we start to collect some revenue so we can sustain the programme,” Ellington added, highlighting that since the efforts to collect fares began on February 1, there have been challenges.

“So far, based on the very latest numbers I have received from El Hydro, some 11,164 students have registered. Over 6,000 student cards have been issued to the schools to be distributed to children. Five thousand cards are ready now to be distributed.

“The student numbers we are carrying is around 16,000, based on estimates, because we have not fully implemented the electronic fare collection system. Unfortunately, based on the records, just over 1,900 students have been issued a card — which is significantly lower than we would have liked it to be at this stage — and even of that small number it is just about 550 students who put funds on their card. I would like to use this opportunity to make an appeal to the schools and the parents, the entire nation, to help us get this student registration validation and distribution of cards up to the level required,” Ellington stressed.