Editorial | First step for transport

The plan to divert minibuses from adjacent streets into the Half -Way Tree Transport Centre is a sensible idea.

So, too, in the circumstances is the declared intention to offer credible fare increases to the island’s route taxi and bus operators, although asking a sector committee to design a mechanism for determining the hikes is a bit of a farce, aimed, most probably, at providing cover for the Government.

However, as welcome as these developments are in seeking to bring order to Jamaica’s shambolic public transit sector, they are, at best, Band-Aid over a deeper problem, whose fix insists upon a comprehensive policy and strategy for the management of all forms of transportation in the island.

With respect to the matter of fares, the Government, through its various technical agencies, including the Transport Authority (TA), is, or ought to be aware, of all the components and costs that go into operating a bus or taxi, and therefore what fare is required to provide a reasonable return on an operator’s investment. Furthermore, unless the amendment was further amended, a change to the legislation in 2000 gave the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) “the power to determine, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the fares which may be charged in respect of the provision of” public transportation by road, rail or ferry.

Although it hasn’t been in the habit of doing so since then, the OUR has, at least once, in 2009, made determination on fares to be charged by the route taxis and buses, including the government-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC). Any recommendation by the OUR has, however, to be ratified by the transport minister. They, across administrations, have been reluctant to sanction increases. Indeed, until a 15 per cent rise two years ago, bus and route taxi fares were officially frozen for eight years.

RAMSHACKLE

Maintaining fares artificially low, akin to asking transport operators to subsidise commuters, contributes significantly to the ramshackle privately owned segment of the public transport system, where taxis race for the next pick-up, generally ignoring the road codes and creating dangers for their passengers and other road users. Contrast this with the around J$11 billion in yearly taxpayers subsidy to the JUTC, half in direct transfers and the rest as implied cover for its losses.

Against this backdrop, it is only reasonable that private operators be afforded credible fare increases on the basis of real costs, even as they are held to high, and rigorously enforced, performance standards.

These standards should include – as the Transport Authority wants to implement – the private minibuses terminate their journeys in Half-Way Tree having to use the modern, and relatively well organised facility that was completed a dozen years ago with Belgian financing, at a cost of J$4.9 billion.

The imposing semi-enclosed structure, with massive north-south arching steel beams over its roof, was designed to accommodate 580 buses an hour on two levels. It now handles a fraction of that number – mostly buses operated by the JUTC. Outside the centre, however, public throughways are often choked with private buses jostling to let off or pick up passengers.

Having these buses use the centre would lessen congestion and improve safety in a busy section of the city.

“The general idea is to prevent buses and taxis from stopping in and blocking live lanes as they seek to put down and pick up passengers, as well as to prevent commuters from having to walk long distances and cross the street, oftentimes putting their safety at risk in order to board taxis and buses,” said the Transport Authority’s chairman, and former police chief, Owen Ellington.

PERSIST

Some operators have already baulked at the idea, but Mr Ellington must persist.

But as this newspaper previously suggested, the transport minister, Daryl Vaz, must also address his mind to the bigger picture – an overarching transport policy and strategy.

In that regard, we repeat our suggestion of some of the key issues that Mr Vaz should consider in formulating this policy:

• The regulation and use of private vehicles and public transportation;

• The design, management and maintenance of the island’s road network;

• The relationship between public transportation and energy use and, therefore, energy policy;

• The impact of national security on public transportation; and

• How transportation (public and private) interface with, and influence, national economic outcomes.

This analysis should lead to a transportation strategy for Jamaica that would be implemented in structured blocks over, say, a decade and a half.

As The Gleaner said when it previously commented on the issue: “In that time, private vehicle ownership might even become an aberration. No one might feel a need for them.”