PORTLAND, Jamaica — The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) launched a highly anticipated new route, the 710, from Port Antonio to Kingston on Wednesday, which the company expects to increase local travel to the parish.

Commuters and stakeholders gathered at the  Port Antonio Square for the opening of the route alongside Minister of Transport Daryl Vaz, Managing Director JUTC Owen Ellington and others.

“We are delighted to be able to provide this service to the citizens of Port Antonio, linking Kingston. Of all the rural services that we have launched so far, the promise of service to Port Antonio has generated far more interest and excitement than we have seen before, ” Ellington said.

In explaining the interest in the product, Ellington said over 500 people had registered for smart cards to be able to travel on the buses.

While acknowledging strong interest from Portland, Ellington maintained that the JUTC was not aiming to displace public passenger vehicle operators in the parish.

“That has been a long-standing concern, and we have used every opportunity available to us to reassure our partners in the public transport sector…that we have no intention to displace them. Rather, it’s our intention to bring additional business to the townships,” he said.

Ellington shared that the advent of new JUTC routes into rural towns is triggering what he described as a new wave of internal commuting.

“On a Friday morning, with a schedule of one bus running out to Ocho Rios, we have had to be putting as many as five to seven buses on some mornings. The same obtains on a Saturday morning. We have no doubt that the JUTC will act as a catalyst for significant internal transfer movements and even domestic tourism benefiting the parish of Portland,” he said.