The Government is moving to better coordinate buses on a number of routes in the Corporate Area, says Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz.

After walking several roads in the Half-Way Tree area in St Andrew on Monday, September 11 and viewing the frequency of pickups by Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses, the minister said “gaps” exist in the system but they can be fixed easily.

“I have identified some issues with some students who have been delayed going to school on the 76 route, and I have seen where there can be very simple logistic changes that are made to make the flow of traffic better,” Vaz shared.

Vaz said some of the issues can be remedied with ease and that he has commenced consultations with students, to be followed by ideas from other stakeholders and the operators of public passenger vehicles for the wider challenges that he has seen.

He said the Transport Authority (TA) is leading the process of consultations with stakeholders, and a number of possible loading areas have been identified to have more “seamless and comfortable locations”.

Chairman of the TA, Owen Ellington, said the “comprehensive tour” of the area provided an insight of what can be done to “configure the taxi parking area”.

“There are opportunities for improvement in how things are done, and we are going to be working on that,” he said.

The JUTC is an agency of the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, and is the exclusive provider of public transit services in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR), comprising Kingston and St Andrew, and Portmore and Spanish Town in St Catherine.

Its mission is to provide a customer-oriented, safe, reliable, modern, cost-effective transportation service, through teamwork and good conditions of employment.

The Transport Authority, which is also an agency of the ministry, is charged with the responsibility for the licensing of all public and commercial vehicles, and the regulating and monitoring of public transportation in Jamaica.