Transport Authority warns public passenger operators against increasing fares

The Transport Authority says public passenger vehicle operators should immediately desist from overcharging commuters.

The authority says it has received complaints that operators are insisting that commuters pay more than the approved fares, particularly in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) and in Old Harbour, St Catherine.

It says its operations teams will be monitoring this situation closely and operators found to be unlawfully deceiving passengers as to the fare for a journey will be prosecuted.

Meanwhile, the transport authority says one of the dangers of using unlicensed public passenger vehicles is that these operators often charge exorbitant fares, as has been in Prosper and Golden Grove in Hanover.

The authority is encouraging the commuting public to use licensed public transport vehicles which display red public passenger vehicle plates and the light blue Transport Authority sticker on the windshield with expiration dates of 2019 and onwards.

Commuters may also report incidents of overcharging through the Authority’s toll- free line at 1-888-991-5687 by providing the licences plate numbers and the routes for the vehicles.

In the meantime, the authority says with the Public Transport Liberalisation Pilot, which was launched on Monday, unlicensed operators can now apply for a road licence to ply a number of routes islandwide.

Under the pilot, 1,260 routes have been opened as well as 100 spaces on select Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) sub-franchise routes and new hackney taxi road licences.

It says in instances where there are routes that may not be covered under the pilot persons may contact the authority so that the necessary steps can be taken to increase the availability of licensed transportation services.  

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