MONTEGO BAY, St James — Spot Valley High Principal Richard Thompson is looking forward to the day when the State-run Montego Bay Metro bus company will once again transport his students from sections of the western city to the school in Rose Hall, St James.

“The MoBay Metro has been down for about a year now but we have [private] drivers that we are engaging. The Trelawny leg [of the bus service] is good but we are supposed to be engaging some Montego Bay persons, [it’s] just for them to sign off on a contract. They deal with the PATH [Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education] students or the students who are on welfare,” Thompson told the
Jamaica Observer during a visit to the school Monday, as the new academic year began.

He said the school has had talks with MoBay Metro but may need to push a bit harder.

“We have [had] that discussion, we have gotten the promises but I guess we have to sit down because they said that the bus that usually come up here is not working,” the educator mulled.

When Montego Bay Metro was contacted, a representative who asked not to be identified by name explained that the company currently has buses available but it is being hobbled by a shortage of drivers.

Green Pond High School Principal Oraine Ebanks doing administrative tasks on the first day of the academic year Monday.

“This morning we would have been able to cover Cambridge, Anchovy, Rusea’s, Green Pond. We didn’t do Spot Valley this morning, but it is our intention,” he said of schools that usually benefit from the service.

Montego Bay Metro is an agency of the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport and serves five routes: Cambridge and Goodwill in St James; Falmouth in Trelawny; Mackfield in Westmoreland; and Sandy Bay in Hanover.

“There are units available; we have enough units to cover. Resources are not the issue, just drivers. We have 16 buses that can roll out plus the two premiums that go to Kingston,” the employee said Monday.

In addition to Spot Valley High, among the schools MoBay Metro has served in the past are Muschett High, Irwin High, William Knibb High, Rusea’s High, Anchovy High, Cambridge High, Hopewell High, and Knockalva Technical High. There have been reports of plans to expand the service to other schools with buses also scheduled to transport students back to Montego Bay after dismissal.

At Green Pond High in St James, there was no issue with the bus service on Monday and school officials were delighted. Principal Oraine Ebanks credits the bus service for students’ punctuality.

“This morning if you saw the number of students who were out on time. I give credit partly to the bus system,” he told the Observer.

According to Ebanks, a unit from the Rural School Bus Programme has also been a big help.

“It has assisted significantly in improving punctuality to school,” he said, adding that students have increasingly come to depend on the service, particularly because reliable public transportation is not as readily available in the area.

“Last year we had some challenges because the buses are not enough. Students now recognise the economic benefits of using the bus so they wait on it,” Ebanks said.

Montego Bay Metro has long played a role in transporting students in western Jamaica. It was started in 1997 and the service has expanded over the years. A driver shortage is not an unfamiliar challenge. In 2024, when 12 buses were added to the fleet, the company was looking to hire 20 drivers.