Public transport liberalisation pilot ends November 30

The Transport Authority is urging prospective operators and investors to take advantage of the public transport liberalisation pilot over the next 20 days and ensure compliance with the law.

The pilot, launched by Transport and Mining Minister Robert Montague on September 10, will end on Friday, November 30, the Transport Authority said in a release last Friday.

Under the pilot, prospective operators/investors may now access road licences for 1,260 routes across the island, 100 spaces on select Jamaica Urban Transit Corporation sub-franchise routes, contract carriage, and hackney taxi road licences.

In addition, the Transport Authority has extended the opportunity to apply for hackney carriage services in St James, St Ann, Westmoreland, Trelawny, Manchester and the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region.

The Transport Authority said it has received some 5,300 applications for road licences, but surveillance and intelligence from its road operations reveal that a number of unlicensed operators, particularly in townships, are still non-compliant.

The Transport Authority said it operations teams have now been instructed to exercise a zero-tolerance approach as they seek to ensure licensed, safe and secure public transportation services for the 75 per cent of the population that utilise the public transport system.