Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter
Some of the buses at the Rockfort Depot on Windward Road in Kingston 2 that are currently out of commission. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
A plethora of problems, including the unavailability of spare parts, bad roads and frequent crashes, has rendered close to half of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company's (JUTC) fleet of 730 buses non-functional and has placed the financially unstable company speeding down a path of inefficiency.
Officials from the JUTC confessed to The Sunday Gleaner that the 390 buses currently in the system are inadequate and cannot efficiently serve the commuting public within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region where the bus company operates.
The bus shortage has therefore impacted on the length of time that a passenger has to wait on a bus. A passenger now waits at a bus stop from as short a time as six minutes on a busy corridor during the peak period, to two hours in an area with low ridership on a weekend.
In a written response to questions posed by The Sunday Gleaner, Gwyneth Davidson, marketing and public relations manager at JUTC, said that the unavailability of spare parts has thrown a monkey wrench into the bus company's operations.
"The major reason why repairs and scheduled maintenance cannot be done to all of the fleet in the required time to keep them available for service is the availability of spare parts," she confessed.
Lynval Thompson, depot operations manager at Rockfort, had a similar lament. He revealed that a bus could be out of action for up two months until the parts were sourced overseas.
"The absence of spare parts has been a challenge." He added: "We have dealers but it is impossible for them to stock all the parts that you need." Additionally, the spare parts for the Volvo, Mercedes Benz and MAN buses used by the JUTC cost a pretty penny. This has proven to be a high hurdle for the cash-strapped company that has been operating at a loss since its inception.
Poor state of roads
Thompson also pointed out that the poor state of roads not only forces the company to frequently replace front-end parts, but it also does damage to the electronic ticketing machines in the buses, which are located over one of the rear wheels.
"Bad roads contribute to the malfunctioning of our electronic ticketing machines and the buses can't work without the machines because there is no other way to collect the fares," he explained.
A major reason for the shortage is Government's failure to implement an official replacement programme. It has been four years since the Government has bought a bus - new or used - for the struggling bus company. And the much-needed injection to its fleet will not arrive until March 2007. "The JUTC expects that it will receive 50 buses in March 2007. This is the start of a replacement programme," said Thompson
The buses bought for the eight-year-old bus company between: 1998 and 2002 were all new and boasted a projected life span of eight to 10-years.
However, the JUTC admitted: "Not all of the buses that were initially purchased are in commission. Some have been taken out of service for a variety of reasons, including the need for major overhauling and maintenance work, and buses being unavailable for service because of major accidents."
Based on information provided by the company, only about 10 used buses were assigned to its fleet. They include some articulated buses that are still in service and some that were owned by Government and had previously been operated by a private provider.
Despite what seems to be a failure to serve out their life expectancy, however, the bus company believes that the buses have served well. "The JUTC has delivered value service based on the passenger loads, hilly terrain and other challenging road conditions where the buses have to operate," Davidson said in the statement.
Non-functional buses
The JUTC was reluctant to reaveal the total number of units it currently has in its fleet and how many of the 340 non-functional buses have been disposed of.
"At this time, the JUTC is undergoing a programme of bus rehabilitation and also major maintenance, which is bringing back many dormant buses.
"There are also buses that are being assessed for disposal," explained Davidson.
Requests to get a comment from Patrick McIntosh, president of the JUTC, regarding the effects of the shortage, were not met.
A visit to the Windward Road-based Rockfort Depot in St. Andrew, which has 120 buses on its books, revealed that there were seven 'dead' buses in what they call the 'dead yard' while several others were under going minor to major repairs.
JUTC Fleet
730 buses bought by Government between 1998 and 2002.390 buses operational as at September 15.
445 buses needed to meet all requirements (428 regular and 17 premium).
487 buses needed to meet all requirements on the No. 87 route, including those needing spares.
55 more buses needed by the JUTC to serve the commuting public at optimal level.
97 buses short when spares are included.
250,000 passengers on average ride JUTC buses on a busy workday.
