THE EDITOR, Madam:
Finally, the fees to use the Portmore leg of Highway 2000 have now been advertised. Everything from now on is only procedural. I am a little surprised by the intended approach to be taken by management of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).
Recently, it was stated in the media that the JUTC buses plying the Portmore routes would be rerouted to the Mandela Highway in order to avoid the additional charges of the toll. Instinctively, this sounds good. Applying careful analysis to this situation however, reveals many holes in this approach.
What are the options faced by the JUTC with the impending toll charges? The company may apply for a toll adjustment for buses using this route or sticking to its advertised strategy.
Two of the obvious negative implications of this are, increased cost to commuters and the possibility of less persons travelling. On the positive side, commuters will reach work faster and a high rate of operation efficiencies.
Rerouting the buses through Mandela Highway will surely avoid the toll costs to a struggling company that is trying to balance its books.
The flip side to this is that, the alternative route is much longer, especially to get to downtown. Secondly, with more vehicles expected to use the alternative route, commuters/operators can anticipate lengthy traffic congestion, which will also be reflected in the JUTC operation costs.
Let me add another scenario to this. What will happen when the bridge used as the alternative route needs to be taken out for repairs? Will this mean that the JUTC will suspend their service until the conclusion of such? Please let us not be ridiculous!
JUTC, one main objective of a national transport system is connecting labour to jobs. If this is not done in an effective manner, productivity will be affected. This issue begs a review.
I am, etc.,
MICHAEL CLARKE
Lot 192 Greater Portmore
mclarke@excite.com
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