In the coming months, the Jamaica Urban Transport Company’s (JUTC) fleet is set to be further bolstered with the arrival of an additional 100 buses.
Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) with responsibility for information, skills and digital transformation, Dr Dana Morris Dixon, said the buses could arrive by as early as July.
Transport Minister Daryl Vaz said last week on social media that the 100 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses were completely manufactured.
In a follow-up post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, Vaz said the buses are to arrive in July, which is well ahead of the opening of the 2024-2025 school year in September.
“#JUTCUpdate 100 JUTC buses to be shipped between June 10-12 and scheduled for arrival between July 12-15, 2024,” Vaz wrote.
He also posted a two-minute video showing the buses which are to be shipped to Jamaica.
At the post-Cabinet press briefing last week, Morris Dixon said the buses have all been paid for.
“… These new buses will make 170 additional buses that have been added to the fleet since Minister Vaz has taken (had) his appointment about a year ago,” Morris Dixon noted.
Speaking in the House of Representatives earlier in the year, Vaz said the CNG-fuelled buses are expected to arrive in time for the start of the 2024-2025 academic school year in September.
He said the buses are to form part of 300 mixed-energy units that the Government will be acquiring over the next three years to boost the state-run JUTC’s fleet and address the needs in the public transportation system.
The JUTC operates on over 70 routes in Kingston and St Andrew, Portmore and Spanish Town.
