Opposition Spokesperson on Transport and Mining Mikael Phillips wants a clear policy statement, a budget and a full operations report on the six-month-old rural school bus system to enable a full analysis of the progress of the programme, before the government spends a further $2 billion on new buses.

The spokesperson said the information presented this week by its operator, the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), at a Ministry of Transport news conference, makes a compelling case for an operational review and significant adjustment before any contemplation of sinking another $2 billion of tax funds to expand the fleet from one hundred and ten to two hundred and ten.

In a statement today, Phillips said he was shocked that only 16,000 students used the 4-month free service, which is less than five per cent of the student population and only 1,900 students, less than half of one per cent, have been issued with fare collection cards. “Any further capital expenditure at this time will benefit others, but not the student population, whose travel costs have not been significantly impacted so far,” he said.

The Opposition Spokesperson said while there was no policy difference on the need to provide students with reliable, safe and cost effective transport, the Minister could not blindly spend more taxpayer funds without a comprehensive report detailing performance against objectives, the reasons for the low take up, the cost of the service and whether the company, El Hydro could effectively manage student registration and card distribution for the rural school bus system. 

He noted that the JUTC had well over 10 years’ experience in registering and distributing cards to students, as well as in establishing a network of point-of-sale top-up locations. This activity is vital to the bus service’s revenue, and students will need cards to pay.

Mr Phillips called on the Minister to commission the report, which could effectively guide operational and financial decisions. This, he said, was particularly necessary as the JUTC Managing Director was quoted as saying, “we have been spending tremendously paying staff, fueling the buses and conducting other operations and the company is operating at a loss because of it.” He said this state of confusion cannot continue as the company is projected to lose $18 billion in the 2026/27 financial year, recovering only ten per cent of its operating cost from fare collection.