Toll rise, not fare - Transport operators foresee challenges when new rates come into effect

Sheldon
Williams, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Ahead
of the increase in toll tariffs on Saturday, July 5, transport
operators are considering their options and a mass meeting has been set
for Sunday, July 6.

Jamaican Infrastructure Operator
Limited, which manages Highway 2000, recently announced the toll hike,
affecting the May Pen, Portmore, Spanish Town and Vineyards roads.

For May Pen, Class One vehicle tariffs will increase
from $70 to $80. Class Two will increase from $110 to $130, while Class
Three will move up from $200 to $250.

In Portmore,
Class One will move from $150 to $170, Class Two from $230 to $260, and
Class Three from $450 to $520.

Spanish Town Class One
vehicles will be charged $120, moving from $110; Class Two $180, moving
from $160; and Class Three $330, moving from
$300.

For Vineyards, Class One vehicles will be
charged $330, moving from $310; Class Two $470, moving from $430; and
Class Three $890, moving from $790.

Egerton Newman,
president of Transport Operators Development Sustainable Service, said
the increase will be unmanageable.

"We cannot consume
this increase in toll. Something has to be done. We are saying the
Government has to find a way," he insisted.

Newman
said a final decision will be made next Sunday.

"We
have set our meeting in Half-Way Tree, where we will see if we can ask
for a fare increase or ask the passengers when they reach the toll to
pay or we are going to have to ask for an extra $20 on their fares," he
said.

Already burdened by whopping toll costs for its
buses to operate on the Portmore leg of Highway 2000, the Jamaica Urban
Transit Company (JUTC) is also bracing itself to pay out a larger chunk
of its revenue to cover the tariff.

JUTC buses are
classified as Class Three vehicles, which now attract a toll fee of
$450. On Saturday, that will increase to
$520.

MILLIONS IN
TOLL

Communications manager at the JUTC, Clinton
Clarke, said the bus company has to pay millions in toll tariffs every
month. The bus company incurred $16.4 million in toll costs in May, up
from $15.2 million in April. He said toll charges can go as high as $192
million annually.

"We have three depots, and the
depot that uses the toll road more predominantly is Portmore. We expect
that with the charges being put forward now, our operating charges will
increase. But we are going to see how we can work magic to see how we
can ease the burden on the Jamaican public," he
said.

Clarke added that each bus can make eight to 10
round trips per day. This could see a single bus using the Portmore leg
of Highway 2000 incurring a toll fee of $10,400
daily.

"We haven't completed our assessment to say
what the monthly cost would be. The public needs to know that we pay
toll, too. The arrangement between the Government and the highway
operator does not include that, so we don't get any preferential rates,"
Clarke remarked.

The executive committee of the
Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators (JATOO) rejected
the latest increase in toll fees. Through a release sent to the media,
JATOO outlined that "operators who use the Portmore toll will now pay an
extra $1,400 daily for their Portmore operation. This is imposed on
private operators without any adjustment in the bus
fare.

"JATOO is forced to suspect that the Government
wants us operators to cry out against the toll increase, so that the
Government-owned JUTC will benefit from a possible fare
increase."

sheldon.williams@gleanerjm.com

• " We will see if we can ask for a fare increase or ask the passengers when they reach the toll to pay " - Egerton Newman , president of Transport Operators Development Sustainable Service

• The public needs to know that [the JUTC] pays toll, too. … We don't get any preferential rates … . " - Clinton Clarke, Communications Manager, Jamaica urban transit company