Disabled community irked by JUTC decision on weekend buses

Members of the disabled community have expressed that they feel slighted by the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), which does not operate buses that have been specially retrofitted for persons with disabilities, on weekends.

They are also concerned that the four buses that serve the disabled community operate only within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) – that is Kingston and St Andrew and parts of St Catherine which include Portmore and Spanish Town.

To compound the situation, the JUTC appears to have changed its policy position, claiming that the buses are for transporting disabled children only, with adult passengers allowed to ride at the discretion of the driver.

“It is as if they are saying we should stay put on weekends, we have no place to go,” said a disgruntled Paralympian who uses a wheelchair to get around. She was the first to bring to the attention of this newspaper, the fact that the JUTC does not offer the service to the disabled community on weekends.

A Portmore resident who travels to Papine, St Andrew six days each week, said while he appreciates the service that is offered between Monday and Friday, the bus company should consider extending it to weekends.

“We do have a life that extends to weekends. I have to be on the road on a Saturday and the JUTC bus that is fitted with a wheelchair ramp makes life easier for me,” he told The Gleaner.

When contacted, Corporate JUTC Communications Manager Cecil Thoms said the buses for the special needs community are not operated on Saturdays and Sundays for two reasons.

“Firstly, we use the weekend to clean and service these units. Secondly, these are school buses that are used primarily to take disabled children to and from school,” Thoms said.

According to Thoms, the company has found that some disabled adults “want us to pick them up and drop them off at their respective homes".

Thoms said while an individual driver may make certain allowances on a case by case basis, “we cannot facilitate that wholesale service all the time".

The corporate communications manager pointed out that the JUTC’s regular buses also accommodate members of the disabled community.

However, the explanation has not gone down well with one member of the disabled community who questioned how the JUTC is able to clean and service several hundred buses for able-bodied individuals seven days per week, but needs an entire weekend to clean and service a mere four units for the disabled.

“Are they saying we make the buses so filthy that it takes two days to clean them?” he asked rhetorically.