JUTC eyeing billions via new technology
STRAPPED FOR cash, underresourced, and overstaffed, the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is now eager to equip its fleet with the state-of-the-art RMA fivetracking system, which, according to Managing Director Paul Abrahams, has the potential to save the company $1 billion a year.
Abrahams stated that the tracking system, capable of monitoring driver behaviour and fuel economy, is currently being tested on 19 JUTC buses and has resulted in significant savings for the company.
“It’s a system that tracks the unit from it leaves the depot. Therefore, we can know where a bus is at what time, where the schedule is at what time, the mileage it has driven, the speed it has been driving, what time it reaches or doesn’t reach the destination, what time it comes off route, or if it is sitting and idling at the corner of Constant Spring when it should be at Dunrobin Avenue. Several screens will be set up and monitored by the persons tracking the units, so we’ll know everything about our fleet,” Abrahams told The Gleaner on Friday at the Ministry of Transport and Mining.
Abrahams argued that no longer would persons sit at locations with clipboards to manually input arrival and departure times.
“JUTC cannot continue to function as is. We’re operating in the 21st century, not the 18th or 19th century,” declared Abrahams.
He added that it was possible that persons would be repositioned and trained to operate the impending system.