Do better, JUTC

THE EDITOR, Madam:

There is an adage that goes time is the master, without it we would be lost.

When the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) sends a defective bus on the road, we are all lost and inconvenienced.

I had a most unfortunate experience on August 18, 2024, on a bus that plies the Cross Roads to Spanish Town route – the 21B, to be exact.

The bus was travelling at no more than 40kmph, which made me, and I’m sure everyone else, anxious as to when we would eventually arrive in Spanish Town.

The driver did his best to appease the passengers by calling out the stops beforehand to, I reasoned, position himself to make a stop if he needs to without switching from lane to lane.

But this did little to quell our anxiety, and worse because the heat in the bus was unbearable. Normally a bus in motion would give us natural breeze or, as I call it a/c or artificial cooling breeze, from outside. But not this time, because of the slow pace at which it was moving.

DO BETTER

I am appalled that with the recent addition of some 100 new buses, and some electric ones, to the JUTC fleet that this defective machine is still in operation.

Can you imagine the embarrassment seeing motorists speeding pass us, giggling at our misfortune.

Several of us commuters love the JUTC, that is why we have no problem joining the line at the bus park or purchasing our SMARTER cards. But the powers-that-be need to do better.

Mr Transport Minister Daryl Vaz, you cannot continue to apply market segmentation to the operations of the JUTC in St Catherine. If you do, you will continue to receive complaints expressing our gross dissatisfaction at this situation.

Please don’t discourage the loyal JUTC customers, forcing us to take our business elsewhere.

CONCERNED CITIZEN