JUTC to terminate service by 8:00 pm

The management of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is reporting that the bus company will terminate its service at 8:00 p.m due to lingering safety concerns among its drivers.

The JUTC says service is expected to resume at 5:00 am tomorrow.

It says it continues to meet and discuss the attendant issues with its drivers, adding that counselling sessions were conducted at its Rockfort depot.

Several JUTC drivers remained off the job for a second day today over safety concerns.

The drivers went on strike after one of their colleagues was murdered in a gun attack on Monday night along Oxford Road in St Andrew.

That attack came hours after the stabbing death of a taxi driver by a man employed by the JUTC along Washington Boulevard, St Andrew.

This morning, Transport Minister Robert Montague disclosed that more than 100 drivers called in sick.

Montague also disclosed that the roll out of service was slow today with about 122 JUTC buses being deployed to select routes.

This is less than the usual daily roll out of around 400 buses. 

Montague disclosed that a number of drivers called in sick this morning.

The JUTC says it continues to assess the situation and hope to have a full restoration of service in short order.

Here is a list of JUTC bus routes in operation

Spanish Town Depot - 21, 21B, 22, 22A, 23A, 26, 30, 31, 31A, 32, 32B, 44, 46 and 47.  

Rockfort Depot - 83, 97, 99, 89 and 78. 

Portmore Depot - 1, 1A, 3, 3A, 8A, 12, 12A, 16, 17,20, and 20A.

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