JUTC'S EASTERN DEPOT OFFICIALLY OPENED

 

Minister of Transport and Work, the honourable Robert Pickersgill cut the ribbon officially opening the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s (JUTC) Rockfort depot on Friday August 5, 2005.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Pickersgill said “major strides have been made in providing a modern public transportation system, which is an integral requirement of the infrastructure on which modern economies are built". The Minister also revealed that operating cost of the JUTC is estimated at J$4.7 billion and with $2.287 being recovered from the fare box, the government providing support of $1.24 billion, the JUTC is operating at a shortfall of $1.27 billion or 27%.

He stated that there were three options for making up the shortfall; increased subsidies which means increased burden on the tax paper, cutting back on operations which have implications for employment and market share or through increase revenues from the fare box. He pointed out that the government could afford to do no more. He said the government had spent some $6 billion on the development of a bus service for the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region and that construction would begin shortly on the Half-Way-Tree Transport Center which will provide a state-of-the-art facility to accommodate the two hundred thoudsand commuters who traverse that major terminal point, as well as the company's operations.

t was further pointed out that the JUTC has not been sitting around waiting to be granted a fare increase and has in fact taken many steps to rationalise its operations. These steps included;
Marketing strategies to promote Smart Card sales
The decision to establish the Ashenheim Road depot as a central maintenance workshop
Improved arrangments to better facilitate dispatching operations in the Parade area of Down Town Kingston
The conversion of the South Odeon Avenue facility to off peak parking
A pilot exercise for Automatic Vehicle Locator was undertaken on two major routes
The JUTC has also acquired information technology systems to improve the preparation of schedules

The construction of the Rockfort depot is but one more step towards improving the service offerred by the JUTC. This depot is the last of five such facilities to be opened by the JUTC and was constructed in three phases; Infrastructural work by the Jamaica Defence Force, Paving of the Compound by Ready Mix, and Construction by B&H. The engineers and project managers were Jentech Consultants.

The depot started operations on January 10, 2005. There are 120 buses plying 13 routes all terminating in Down Town Kingston with an additional route from Harbour View to National Stadium. At present the depot has 607 employees including drivers and customer service agents. Employees are represented by 2 unions the University and Allied Workers' Union (UAWU) and Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE). Social activities at the depot include domino, table tennis, criket, volleyball, netball and the JUTC choir.