Cops, JUTC rescue scores stranded by curfew

THE GOODWILL of the police and state bus staff was called into action on Saturday afternoon as they helped rescue scores of stranded St Thomas residents who were unable to leave downtown Kingston for home as all buses and taxis had deserted the route.

Curfew measures imposed by the Holness administration to contain the spread of COVID-19 took effect at 3 p.m. for the Easter weekend, five hours earlier than had existed from April 1-9. Only specified groups of employees are exempted, including healthcare workers, the security forces, parliamentarians, business process outsourcing personnel, and journalists, among others.

As beads of sweat poured down the faces of the forlorn bystanders on East Queen Street,

Owen Smith, general manager of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s Rockfort depot, saw their distress and made a snap decision to deploy three buses from surplus numbers on standby to pick up the passengers.

“We predicted there may be a rush because of the curfew. It wasn’t difficult for us when the police reached out. The JUTC is here to assist the public in these trying times,”Smith told The Gleaner.

“We are not working for a salary right now. We just want people to get home safely and with minimum risk.”

WAITING FOR HOURS

Some of the waiting throng were going as far as the eastern towns of Yallahs and Morant Bay.

One woman, who gave her name as Anette, said she had been waiting for transport for two hours. Others among the hapless crowd said they had been waiting from as early as 1 p.m.

St Thomas is one of three parishes that are yet to record a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Shortly before 4 p.m., Constable Patrick Reid was ringing his contacts to empty the streets.

“The cabs and everything are gone, so we are taking the initiative to go speak to the supervisor at JUTC to take them home because we cannot leave them here.

“This is our responsibility,”Reid said. Three JUTC buses pulled up, and the commuters crowded near the door but were eventually persuaded to observe social-distancing guidelines to limit the possibility of transmission of the novel coronavirus. Relieved, they headed off around 4:15 p.m.

“It was a sight to see. Because of the curfew, buses stopped working at a certain time, so we are just doing our job,”Orlando Walters, operations manager at the JUTC’s downtown hub, said.

PHOTOS BY GLADSTONE TAYLOR/MULTIMEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Policemen urge anxious commuters to observe social distancing guidelines before entering a Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus on East Queen Street, Kingston, last Saturday. They said they were left stranded after the 3 p.m. curfew deadline having waited for buses and taxis for at least two hours.

Scores of St Thomas-bound commuters gather at East Queen Street, in the vicinity of Mother’s fastfood store, stranded after Saturday’s 3 p.m. curfew took effect.