The importance of the JUTC

THE EDITOR, Sir:

LET ME register my disagreement with your idea of privatising the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC). Lest we forget, to my understanding, the bus service was not intended to make a profit, necessarily. It was installed to move commuters around the metropolis in an efficient manner. This efficiency includes proper scheduling, irrespective of busload, so that commuters can plan and predict their business.

Every serious city must entertain a proper bus system that can add to the growth and order of that city. When we rural folk visit the city by public transportation, we expect to enjoy decency and order within the city, a quality that we expect to help to reduce pickpocketing and other negatives that follow disorder. There is need for less partisan input into the management of this company as in the quest to place party hacks in key areas, quality gets shafted because of a reluctance to declare polarity. To this end, therefore, what we should be pushing for are regulations to charge practitioners for impropriety, where appropriate.

On the matter of overstaffing, this has to be an input of proper management.

We recall that the number of staff is directly proportionate to the number of buses that make up the fleet.

But if buses are being taken out of service, as is expected by prudent managers, because of legitimate reasons, then the quality of management to order spare parts way ahead of time, as well as other forward-planning tactics, becomes essential. A’LERROY BROWN lbrown00@gmail.com