The Rationalisation of the Public Passenger Transport System in the Kingston Metropolitan Region (KMTR)

Prior to 1999, public passenger transportation in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) was provided by private operators. These operators were organized into franchises, as a requirement of the Government of Jamaica (GOJ). The KMTR was divided into five franchise areas with owners being responsible for the issuing of sub-licenses and monitoring of the service. The system was however lacking in discipline, proper infrastructure such as terminal facilities and inadequate seating capacity. The GOJ decided that a rationalization programme should be pursued to rehabilitate the public passenger transportation system. The objective therefore, is the provision of an effective public transport system with adequate seating capacity, proper depot facilities, under proper management. Such a system will ultimately enhance the productive sector and the economic welfare of the country.

To this end the GOJ established the Metropolitan Management Transport Holdings Ltd. (MMTH) on September 21, 1995 and the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) later in 1998. The MMTH has responsibility for the purchasing of buses and the building of depots and terminal facilities. To date the MMTH has been successful in its mandate, as three of five depots earmarked, have been completed and are fully operational. These are the Ashenhiem Road, Lyndhurst Road and Spanish Town depots. Two others, Portmore, and Eastern (Windward Road) depots are at different stages of completion; they are however being utilised while construction continues.

MMTH is also responsible for the development of a municipal service for Montego Bay Metropolitan Region. In this regard, a school bus service was implemented by the Montego Bay Metro (MBM), which was expanded to a municipal bus service in August of 2000. Since then, the number of buses have increased from 13 to 26 and the service has been extended to two additional routes with a municipal service also being offered on the school bus route.

MMTH is looking at developing a transport centre for Montego Bay, on the South Gully lands. This development is proposed for the new budget year 2003/2004, and will be used exclusively for the parking of MBM buses. The Bogue Industrial Garage property from which MBM operates was purchased by the GOJ and this property will be refurbished to provide full depot facilities to support the transport service to the Montego Bay Metropolitan Region.

The JUTC was essentially established as a service company, to operate the public passenger transport system in the KMTR. They began by taking over the operation of the school bus service, from MMTH in 1999. In 2000 the JUTC took over the CONURBAN franchise, which operated in the Spanish Town and Papine areas. The National Transport Cooperative Society (NTCS) was taken over on March 7, 2001 and a full take over of the KMTR took place on April 23, 2001. To date the JUTC’s fleet now stands at over 600 buses, with some 460 in operation.

The JUTC also issues sub-licenses to private operators to service hilly routes where its buses are unable to operate.

All buses are equipped with electronic fare collection machines, and the implementation of a cashless system was initiated with the launch of the SMART CARD on Wednesday, December 11. 2002. SMART CARDS are rechargeable and can be personalized for greater security and easier replacement if lost or stolen. The JUTC has embarked on an aggressive public education campaign to sensitise the public about the card and a Toll-Free hotline (1-888-991-6684) has been established for persons to contact the company regarding use, refunds and any other aspect of card use that they wish to query.

As part of the Rationalisation Programme the Transport Authority has the responsibility for regulating taxi service in the corporate and rural areas. The Transport Authority has issued route licenses to rural and some urban taxi operators to provide service on routes where the JUTC does not operate. The Authority has also laid groundwork for the metering of taxis, this is to come on stream in the near future.