By Trudy Simpson and Balford Henry, Staff Writers 
left: Employees of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), protesting yesterday in Half-Way Tree, St. Andrew. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer At right: A scene at the North Parade bus terminus, downtown Kingston, as commuters await public transportation. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
BUSES ARE expected to begin rolling again throughout the Corporate Area this morning but will not be dispatched on certain routes along Mountain View Avenue in St. Andrew.
President of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), Sterling Soares, said yesterday that buses plying the 95, 83 and 77 routes would not be going in areas between Windward and Deanery roads "until further notice". The buses will not ply areas south of Excelsior Community College.
The decision followed Sunday night's killing of 32-year-old JUTC bus driver, Harold George Collins, and yesterday's protest by distraught co-workers who parked their buses and took to the streets, leaving scores of commuters stranded.
Mr. Collins was stabbed and his throat cut by an angry mob on Mountain View Avenue.
Police reports state that Mr. Collins, who lived on Mobberley Avenue, Kingston 20, was driving a JUTC bus along Mountain View Avenue towards Half-Way Tree, St. Andrew, when he and a 21-year-old passenger got into an argument.
The passenger asked him to stop the bus and after Mr. Collins complied, a fight reportedly developed between the two men which ended up on the roadway.
The police said that JUTC driver later re-entered the bus but it was stoned by an angry mob just as he was driving off. He reportedly lost control of the bus, which hit the 21-year-old passenger. Mr. Collins was then attacked by the mob which stabbed him repeatedly and slit his throat. The police said that the JUTC driver ran onto premises at Francis Avenue where he collapsed and died. The passenger was reportedly admitted to hospital with a fractured collar bone.
Yesterday, the police continued their search for suspects while JUTC employees parked buses and took to the streets.
The JUTC employees expressed their grief and disgust at the murder as they sat at various JUTC bus depots or marched along the Half-Way Tree and Marescaux roads in St. Andrew to gather at the gates of several media houses.
While Corporate Area commuters fanned in the morning heat at bus stops or jumped into numerous taxis, which sought to take advantage of the extra business caused by the strike, several JUTC employees cursed the Government, politics and the "Mountain View murderers" while others cried or sang, We shall overcome.
Calling for more protection for bus crews, the JUTC employees carried placards, which screamed 'We want justice', 'We want guns now', 'No more slaughtering (or) Barbarian Killings' and 'Stop killing off JUTC bus drivers'.
The employees complained that persons stoned and damaged buses in Portmore, St. Catherine, and downtown Kingston yesterday morning and that they were abused or threatened daily by "bad man" who refuse to pay, who often demand that the buses stop where these men wanted or who linked the buses with the governing People's National Party (PNP).
They added that they cannot defend themselves because they are not allowed to carry weapons but that there is limited security and there are not enough police officers to protect them.
"We are like targets. You come out and you not sure if you are going in," said bus conductor, Miss Allen.
Others like Leopold Barnes, a driver and friend of the deceased, was only bent on preventing someone else dying the same way as his 'batch mate'.
"I cry all morning. Right now, I'm having a splitting headache. He was a good friend of mine. The powers that be have to do something. This is happening too often now. They have to put us in a situation that we can protect ourselves," he said.
A little away from him, a conductress sobbed. "This is more than unfair. Him dead lef' him three pickney dem. Ah sin dis. We ah human being. We just ask fi a little job and get a little something."
The decision to resume restricted service came at a meeting between Transport Minister, Robert Pickersgill, union delegates, Mr. Soares, JUTC management and other officials at the company's Ashenheim Road depot.
The group agreed on a resumption after assurances were given of added security on troubled routes, as well as other security measures to be worked out by a committee including workers, management and the police.
President of the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU), Professor Trevor Munroe, said that they would not resume normal service on these routes until they have met with the leaders of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), who have been active in reducing tensions in the Mountain View Avenue area since last year, as well as citizens of the communities, in an effort to have better understanding.
Prof. Munroe also said that there would be no resumption in that area until there was some assurance of protection for the bus crews.
He noted that measures which were previously introduced, after a driver, Wilfred Gayle, was shot and killed in April, were not carried out by the security forces to the extent that was expected.
Mr. Pickersgill said that those measures had been "reasonably effective". But, three measures from April when Gayle was killed which were not previously fully implemented, will now be:
They are (1) exclusive JUTC communications (telephone) line; (2) Periodic, random searches of buses to be intensified; and (3) a significant increase in plainclothes policemen on buses. New agreement... A liaison committee, which up to now has involved JUTC management and Police High Command, as of next meeting on Wednesday will include reps of the UAWU.
"Extremely important, because workers will be able to bring to the committee experiences on the road and know what measures are needed to be put into effect."
"The crews feel sympathy for the public. However, their anger and sense of grief and loss at death of one of their co-workers led to the strike," Prof. Munroe said.
Vice-president of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), Danny Roberts, said that his union also expressed its regrets "at the brutal and senseless killing", which he described as a "dastardly act and expressed condolences to the family and relatives of the slain driver."
