MINISTER of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz says the 50 buses which arrived here last Wednesday will help to boost the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s (JUTC) daily capacity by the start of the new school year.

The minister, who welcomed the arrival of the new buses after several months of hopeful speculation on their arrival in the island, said the new vehicles will boost the daily turnout of buses before the start of the new academic year in early September.

“We are coming from a roll-out of 140 buses when I took over the transport portfolio and we are now looking to roll out about 315 for the back-to school service, which will include these buses,” he said.

He said his first priority is getting the new buses — which recently arrived on the island — prepared for a pilot project to efficiently transport schoolchildren, which is being contemplated for later this year. He also noted that the JUTC’s handling of the buses will represent an increase of 175 units, or 125 per cent, over the number that the company had been putting out daily prior to him becoming transport minister in May.

He explained that since then the JUTC has been working on a process of emergency procurement of spare parts for the vehicles, to have the additional 125 units ready for roll-out in early September, bringing the total to 265.

The minister pointed out that there were some delays in getting the buses into the island, based on the type of vessel that was used to ship them, which meant they arrived several months after the original date estimated for arrival, due to the handling of the shipping process to Kingston.

He said the vessel was not the traditional “roll-on, roll-of”‘ ship from which the buses could be driven on and off, but is rather a “lift-on, lift-off” type that involves the use of cranes to load and unload the units. The shipment included five 45-seater electric buses, forty 45-seater compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, and five CNG buses with a capacity of 34 seats each, which will facilitate disabled passengers.

He also acknowledged that the process to acquire the buses transcended three transport ministers, and he welcomed the foundation laid by his predecessors who had previously put in the work.

The current JUTC budget assumes an average daily bus deployment of less than 200 buses. Of the total JUTC fleet, more than half are over 10 years old and due to be retired immediately. Consequently, the maintenance and operating costs are very high, supported by increasing levels of subvention from the Government which will reach a record high of over $7 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year.

It is expected that 100 of an additional 200 buses will be delivered in 2024/25 and the other 100 in 2025/26. These are in addition to the 70 already procured to be delivered early in this financial year.

The wholly owned, Government-run public transportation company opened its doors in July 1998, providing a vital service for commuters who, at that time, demanded a decent and structured public transportation system within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region ( KMTR), due to the haphazard system that existed.

The JUTC and the HEART/NSTA Trust recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enable trainee students to repair buses. Under the programme some 44 trainees in motor vehicle mechanics will use their skills to participate in work based on training, across four depots of the JUTC.

The first batch of trainees will be engaged for six months, subsequent to an ongoing engagement of other batches of trainees.