Fare jitters

COMMUTERS COULD be asked to pay more to ride on the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses this fiscal year.

The Government has slashed $150 million from the subsidy it gives to the JUTC despite a projection that the bus company's losses will increase by 35 per cent for the year.

Figures published in the Estimates of Expenditure for the fiscal year indicate a $450 million subsidy to the JUTC.

The Government allocated $600 million to the loss-making bus company last year.

But the Government has expressed confidence that an increase in the number of JUTC buses on the roads and a spike in the daily bus runs will allow the company to pull in more revenue.

"It is anticipated that these strategies will lead to a $13 million, or 25 per cent, increase in passengers carried, and thereby expand revenue by $1.1 billion, or 46 per cent," the Government claims.

But this is expected to be negated by a $1.8 billion, or 41 per cent, increase in expenses.

This would push the JUTC's losses to $2.3 billion this year, up from the $1.7 billion in losses it recorded last year.

"Contributing to this gap between revenue and expenses is the uneconomic fare table," the Government claims.

JUTC fares were last increased in April 2010.

Before that, the fares were hiked in 2005.