JUTC buses on St Andrew hill routes back out after roads cleared Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Managing Director of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), Paul Abrahams says that the fleet of buses that ply the hill routes in St Andrew West Rural has been redeployed as mounted roadblocks have now been cleared.

Upset operators of public passenger vehicles withdrew their services in protest Monday morning, mounting roadblocks in some sections of Stony Hill, leaving scores of commuters stranded.

Scores of commuters, including students, in St Andrew West Rural, were left stranded on Monday morning after bus operators withdrew their services. There were also reports that some roads were blocked with debris and burning tyres, and commuters who live in areas such as Above Rocks, Golden Spring, Parks Road, Stony Hill, and Lawrence Tavern were unable to move around.

“We had to retreat the buses to Half-Way-Tree when the roads were blocked, but the roads are now cleared. So we’ve dispatched them to the hill routes,” Abrahams told Loop News on Monday.

President of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services, Egeton Newman told Loop News on Monday that he had tried to intervene before the protest.

“I had a marathon meeting with them last night and begged them not to take strike action. Scores of bus operators voiced their concerns, and I told them I would be communicating with the minister (of Transport), but the operators took the action this morning,” he said.

According to Newman, the bus operators are very angry at the level of harassment from the police force.

Newman pointed to the bus operators’ claim that there is collusion between police officers and some companies that offer wrecker services based on alleged shared profits for impounding buses.

“There are police officers who benefit from the practice of wrecking buses,” Newman alleged.

NewsAmericasNow.com