Opposition Spokesman on Transport Mikael Phillips says the new 7pm curfew implemented by government is unrealistic given the current state-of-affairs in the transport sector.

He says with inadequate numbers of buses on most routes serviced by the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, JUTC, as well as issues with rural transport operations, there will be unavoidable breaches by workers and other commuters.

Mr. Phillips explained that the JUTC’s daily bus run has been in free fall for some time now and the fleet is now woefully inadequate to serve the evening peak hours.

He said compressing the evening commute into one bus cycle, since it takes more than an hour from origin to destination, particularly on the longer Spanish Town, Portmore and the hills of St. Andrew routes, will prove unworkable.

Mr. Phillips pointed out that, of the JUTC’s scheduled roll-out of 346 units, only 208 were dispatched on Monday (August 9) and yesterday (August 10) morning only 212 units, with thirty already having to return for various defects.

He also emphasized that if seats are inadequate, the system will be overcrowded, exacerbating the problem with the Covid spread. 

The Opposition Spokesman said its impossible for commuters to get home before the curfew unless the government provided the necessary resources to repair and maintain the JUTC’s fleet, more than fifty percent of which is now parked due to lack of spare parts.

This, he said, has continued for months while drivers were sitting idle with no buses to operate.

Mr. Phillips said commuters ought not to be cited for curfew breaches if the government fails to provide adequate transport services in the Kingston metropolitan transport region, in order for people to get home.

He noted that the situation in rural Jamaica was even worse, due to the longer commute, and unless business hours are reduced, the public transport infrastructure cannot adequately cope with a 7 p-m curfew.