Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
This JUTC bus ran off the road into a yard on Weymouth Drive in Kingston in March this year. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Despite a major decline in the number of road crashes caused by Jamaica Urban Transit Corporation (JUTC) buses this year, the company is still churning out millions of dollars for insurance and body repairs.
The state-owned company, which has been continually rocked by reports of unprofessionalism, shows in its latest figures that buses have met in close to 800 accidents since the start of the year. Accounting for collisions between July 2005 and July 2006, the figure grows to 1,442 accidents in only 12 months. This is from a fleet of only 390 functioning buses. This is, however, a decline by 20 per cent in accidents.
But the high number of accidents has still been costing the company millions of dollars. While 2005 figures are yet to be tabled in Parliament, in 2004, the company paid out $105 million to insure its buses because of their vulnerability, while it has been forking out over $10 million annually for bus body repairs and to victims.
MASSIVE LOSSES
The loss of these huge sums of money has contributed to the massive losses experienced by the company since its inception. The company loses up to $1 million a day or $30 million a year, records show.
The unprofessionalism of the company's drivers and the state of the company's buses have been main contributors to the number of accidents. Over the last three weeks, The Sunday Gleaner has witnessed a number of incidents that have led, or could have led, to fatalities or injuries.
Only two weeks ago, this paper chanced upon an incident in Half-Way Tree in which a dysfunctional door and the hastiness of a driver almost took the life of an elderly man. A man, who had just boarded the number 53 bus heading to Above Rocks from North Odeon Avenue, fell into the street at the busy intersection of North and South Odeon avenues after the door swung open as the driver rushed to drive off without allowing passengers to properly enter the bus.
LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM
Luckily, the man was spared a tragic death because traffic coming up South Odeon Avenue was
halted by the stoplight.
The Sunday Gleaner also came upon another incident a week before, which bore testament to the lack of professionalism among drivers. A conversation between two drivers was caught on audio tape. It was marred by expletives and the reporter observed that the driver of the bus, at the time of the conversation, was consuming alcohol as he drove.
Many of the company's buses have also been in and out of service for several months, while others have been barely functioning. The company currently only has 390 functioning of a fleet of 730. The inaccessibility of parts is cited as the reason for the number of non-functioning buses.
In a release to The Sunday Gleaner, the company said it would be embarking on a drive to revamp its reputation as the safest, most reliable bus service in the country. So far, the company has installed a surveillance system to monitor the behaviour of its drivers and to also retrain them where necessary.
"The company is attributing the decline in accidents to increased surveillance of drivers on the road by monitors, retraining of drivers, and also by driver refresher training towards certification by the National Technical and Vocational Education and Training (institute)," public relations manager at the company, Gwyneth Davidson, said. The Sunday Gleaner was not able to ascertain up to press time how many drivers have been disciplined or retrained as a result of the new monitoring system.
Accident trend
July 2005- 120
August 2005- 111
September 2005- 119
October 2005- 121
November 2005 - 106
December 2005 - 96
January 2006 - 116
February 2006 - 97
March 2006 - 86
April 2006 - 97
May 2006 -108
June 2006 - 86
July 2006 - 95
August2006 - 84
