JUTC’s $1.8 billion staff expansion sparks questions amid low bus rollout
Published:Monday | March 10, 2025 | 12:06 AM
The allocation of an additional $1.8 billion to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company Limited (JUTC) to cover the salaries of 240 new personnel comprising mostly drivers, triggered a series of queries during a meeting of Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee on Friday.
Dr Morais Guy, member of Parliament for St Mary Central, raised questions about the average compensation to the new drivers, suggesting that each person could be earning in the region of about $7.5 million per annum.
For the 2024/2025 financial year ending this month, the staff complement at the JUTC is 1,626. However, the state-owned bus company is projecting to increase its drivers by 240, bringing the full complement of workers to 1,866 for the 2025/2026 fiscal year.
Opposition spokesman on transport Mikael Phillips questioned his government counterpart about the pay package for mainly new drivers, as well as why the JUTC had recruited additional drivers when the daily roll-out of buses has not changed significantly.
“You have been having less and less bus roll-out, so to be employing an additional 200 plus, is it that you have had redundancies why we are taking on more drivers when you are still having a low roll-out of buses?” he asked.
Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz, who confirmed that $2 billion was earmarked to pay the new drivers, said his counterpart posed a valid question, noting “it is something I would have to review, not only with the JUTC, but the Ministry of Finance to get the justification for these additional new positions”.
For the 2025/2026 financial year, the state-owned entity is projecting an operating loss of about $13.84 billion and a total loss of nearly $18 billion before a government grant is taken into consideration.
In the Jamaica Public Bodies Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2025-2026, the Government said JUTC will seek to improve operational efficiency and expand its reach through increasing its fleet and expanding its routes.
At Friday’s Standing Finance Committee which reviewed the Estimates of Expenditure, Vaz said the state-owned transportation company would acquire additional buses to have a daily roll-out of 400 in a year’s time. The company currently has a daily roll-out of 250 buses.