Day: September 25, 2019

The management of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, JUTC, is advising the public, that it will terminate its service at 8pm due to lingering safety concerns among its drivers.

Service is expected to resume at 5am tomorrow.

We continue to meet and discuss the attendant issues with our drivers, several of whom showed up for work this morning. Meetings were held across all depots and counselling sessions were conducted at the Rockfort depot.

Meanwhile, the phased roll-out of buses began today on selective routes. These are – Spanish Town Depot – 21, 21B, 22, 22A, 23A, 26, 30, 31, 31A, 32, 32B, 44, 46 and 47.  Rockfort Depot – 83, 97, 99, 89 and 78.  Portmore Depot – 1, 1A, 3, 3A, 8A, 12, 12A, 16, 17,20, and 20A.

We continue to assess the situation and hope to have a full restoration of service in short order.

We crave the understanding of our commuters and thank our security partners and our drivers for their commitment to service.

The Jamaica Urban Transit Company, JUTC, is to enhance security across its operations following two incidents resulting in the deaths of an employee and a taxi operator. The Company hopes to have a phased roll-out of buses from its Spanish Town and Portmore depots on Wednesday morning.

Managing Director of the JUTC, Paul Abrahams, said the staff at the Rockfort depot are tense and fearful. “One can understand their unwillingness to go out, given that the driver who was killed was from this depot. We will be providing counselling support in addition to staff bus protection in the hope that this situation will quickly come to a resolution. Consequently, we anticipate that Portmore and Spanish Town drivers will show up for the resumption of service,” Mr. Abrahams said.

In addition, some 40 police officers along with private security guards have been deployed to strategic locations to provide static duty. These include but are not limited to – the Half Way Tree Transport Centre, North Odean Avenue, Down Town, Papine to Half Way Tree, Chancery Street and North and South Parades.

Meanwhile, the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre is expected to be reopened tomorrow after it was closed due to a bomb scare.