Transport Minister defends rural school buses; JUTC fleet boosted

 

Thirty new buses arrived in Jamaica on Friday to be added to the fleet of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).

 

The new units will be deployed across the Corporate Area.

 

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz and other senior government officials were on location at Kingston Wharves for the arrival of the buses.

 

Minister Vaz used the opportunity to address concerns raised by the People's National Party Caucus in the St. James Municipal Corporation on Thursday.

 

The councillors insisted that the government should have purchased new buses for the Rural School Bus Programme.

 

"I'm also hearing about new buses and why we didn't buy new buses. Let me make it very clear to Jamaica that we took a decision as a government to implement an emergency response to meet September 2025. This government was not prepared to allow the children to start another school year under the conditions that they currently exist under. It is totally unacceptable. And therefore, I want to say that phase one was done as an emergency," he said. 

 

Minister Vaz added that new buses will be purchased on the phase two of the programme.

 

"Phase two, which I have committed to do over two years, will give me more time to look at options throughout the globe, which would include the possibility of refurbished and new buses, or either or.... That will be dependent on costs and all of the specifications, etc.," he admitted. 

 

He insisted that the current fleet have met the required safety standards.