New roads, the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, a quarter million, Coasters, are all names that serve to remind us just how far the island’s transport system has come. Certainly, there is work to do, but when compared to August 15, 1960, public transport is a dream.

Published Monday, August 15, 1960

Magnet buses run no more

Jamaica’s largest rural bus service, the Magnet Bus Service, closed down operations on August 12, 1960, after 39 years in existence.

The decision to sell the buses to private operators and to cease operations was taken by the proprietor, Mr Bromley Johnson, on the grounds that the award, recently made by an Essential Services Tribunal, headed by Dr Rawle Farley, would make his business uneconomic.

Over 110 workers have been laid off and 18 of 27 units have been sold to private operators.

As a result of these recent developments, an emergency meeting of rural bus operators will be held on August 16, 1960, at the YMCA, two hours before a meeting at the same venue of the Licensing Authority. It is learned from an authoritative source that operators will consider at that meeting, whether to withdraw applications for new licences until the matter is settled.

The Cabinet will meet on August 15 and it is likely that the matter will be discussed. On the morning of August 12, Florizel Glasspole, Minister of Education, the Hon. Jonathan Grant, Minister of Labour, and the Hon. Allan Coombs, Minister of Communications and Works, had preliminary discussions about the situation.

The award made by the tribunal, of which Mr C. H. Bloomfield and Dr J.H. Beckford were members, provides for wage increases for all categories of workers at Magnet and introduces for the first time in rural bus operations, the principle of overtime payments after 8 hours’ work and on Sundays and double-time pay on public holidays.

Other rural bus operators have been meeting regularly to discuss the situation as it may apply to them and have so far indicated that if similar rates are introduced into their concerns, they will cease operations.

On Wednesday, August 10, one of these operators, Mayflower’s Mr L. S. Panton, broke off negotiations with the BITU on wage and representational claims. The BITU called on the Ministry of Labour to intervene. 

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