Transportation Operators Sustainable Development Services (TODSS) president Edgeton Newman says members of the transportation sector have major concerns heading into the new school year.
He said there is a need for clarity for private transport operators as there is a potential transport crisis looming over the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), which could start the school year with far fewer buses than what was operating before summer holidays.
Opposition Transport and Works spokesman Mikael Phillips said bus runs at JUTC had fallen sharply over the summer holidays, with the company dispatching just over 100 units a day, instead of the 260 required by the summer timetable.
He said the effective transit demand in the Kingston Metropolitan Transportation Region for school conditions is over 450 buses.
Newman wants the Ministry of Transport to say how private transport operators can help to address some of the expected shortages in the transport sector, particularly in KMTR.
“Most of them do not know where they should operate and if they should be allowed to transport students or, with the current situation with the KLDK, if they would be the target of the police and Transport Authority inspectors.
“We are calling on the Minister for Transport and Mines to meet with private operators now to see how we can best resolve any challenges for the new school year,” Newman said.
He said that in KMTR there are spaces in which about 5600 taxis operate unofficially and they want to operate officially. Newman said those units could very well take some of the pressure off the state-owned bus company.
