Category: News

Spanish Town, St. Catherine –An unidentified man has succumbed to injuries following an incident involving an International Tractor Head which made contact with a JUTC chartered bus along the Green Acres main road in the vicinity of Meadowrest on Sunday, January 19, 2020.

According to reports around 4:30pm Sunday afternoon, a JUTC chartered bus was travelling along Green Acres main road heading in the direction of Spanish Town. On reaching a section along the roadway an International Tractor Trailer Head registered CF7185 was travelling in the opposite direction. The JUTC driver reported that when he observed the International Tractor Trailer Head approaching the bus, he veered further left, mounted the embankment and stopped. He said the Tractor Trailer made contact with the bus while passing and upon examination of the damage to the bus he saw a man lying on the roadway suffering from injuries. The driver reported that he called the police for assistance and the injured man was taken to the Spanish Town Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The matter is being investigated by the Spanish Town Police.

This advises that effective Wednesday, October 16, 2019, there will be an on the hour shuttle service on weekdays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm between Hellshire and Greater Portmore.
Passengers will be allowed a free transfer from the shuttle to any route departing Greater Portmore to half way tree or down town.

Similarly, passengers in Half Way Tree or down town between the hours of 10:00 am and 2:00 pm may take any bus to Greater Portmore (17, 17a, 18, 18a, 20, 20a) and transfer free to the Hellshire shuttle.

The Hellshire shuttle route number is 100.

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.

Corporate Communications Manager Cecil Thoms said “there is still a palpable fear amongst drivers and we continue to assuage fears so that they will show up tomorrow.” We will continue to do all we can to resume full service to our commuters.

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

The management of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, JUTC, held an emergency meeting with various stakeholders this morning, following two tragic incidents which have left a JUTC driver and a taxi operator dead.

Several stakeholders were present including the Police high command, union representatives , the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services, TODSS, the Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators, JATOO and Ministry of Transport officials.

It was a frank and candid meeting and those present ventilated issues of concern to them. The following was agreed –

• We have been assured by the Police of enhanced presence on selective routes;
• Our Operations Department will be rolling out buses on a phased basis, but we hope to have full resumption of service by peak, i.e, by 5pm this afternoon;
• We will be reaching out to the families of both deceased

We reiterate that the safety of our drivers and commuters is our paramount concern and in that regard we have been reassured by the Police that they will be out in their numbers.
We thank our commuters for their patience and understanding and regret the inconvenience caused this morning. We also wish to express our appreciation to our drivers, who remain dedicated in their call of duty in this most difficult time.