Two hundred electric buses will be added to the fleet of the cash-strapped Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) over a three-year period beginning in financial year 2023/24.
Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke made the disclosure on Tuesday as he opened the 2023/24 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.
In fact, as he detailed the plans for JUTC, one of the electric buses pulled up outside Gordon House in downtown Kingston and provided quite the visuals during his presentation.
The JUTC electric bus that is currently part of the fleet on display outside Gordon House in downtown Kingston on Tuesday. (Photo: Marlon Reid)
Clarke divulged that 100 buses will be delivered in 2024/25 and an additional 100 in 2025/26. He said these are in addition to the 70 buses that have already been procured for delivery early in the 2023/24 financial year.
Clarke said $40 billion will be spent to procure buses for the State-owned bus company and, unlike in the past, the Government will not require a loan to pay for the vehicles.
“In previous years we borrowed money for these kinds of programmes. This time around, speaking on behalf of all Jamaicans about this $40 billion [spend]: “Ah fi wi money dis!” Clarke declared.
Pointing to improvements in the country’s economic position, Clarke posited that one of the best ways to share the gains of economic reform and recovery with the Jamaican people is by improving the public transportation system.
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He described as a matter “of grave concern”, the inability of the JUTC to fulfil its mandate to provide 31,000 seats per day to meet the demand of the commuting public within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region. To meet this demand, the JUTC would need to dispatch between 450 and 500 buses daily.
“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,” Clarke noted.
He pointed out that the newest buses in the JUTC fleet are the five CNG Golden Dragon buses that were purchased in 2019. Prior to this, 35 Golden Dragon buses were acquired in 2016 and 200 Volvo buses were delivered between 2011 and 2014. The last of these were delivered in 2015.
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