THE ADVENT of the JUTC was a godsend for urban bus commuters but the unconscionable operational losses it has been racking up are now fouling the spark plugs of the national budget.
From the beginning, management has been caught in a pincer movement between political interference and union militancy. Mr. Joseph Matalon ('Big Joe'), the most prominent business personality to serve as chairman of the company, may have become aware of a huge wave of red ink churning his way and wisely escaped through the emergency exit before the deluge of losses crested at about $3 million a day.
Overseas consultants were called in to help stem the tide and their report confirms overstaffing compared with internationally acceptable ratios. They have recommended that 300 employees be made redundant and already the unions have dipped their oars into the incarnadine stream and are raising their voices. Mr. Danny Roberts of the NWU may have a point when he complains about management shortcoming but he is manoeuvring to remove all blame from his members, conveniently forgetting that two ineptitudes do not make a team.
The JUTC operational problems are compounded by illegal taxis which hijack customers on the bus routes and a solution for this pirate competition is now shrouded in a thick political fog which makes any meaningful navigation difficult. The system is drifting between the rocks of higher fares and the hard place where social protest breeds. In the meantime it is taxpayer's money that flows down the drain. The public deserve a proper public transportation system which at least breaks even.
A top Jamaican businessman will have to be recruited to take the helm, supported by two or three expatriates, experts in transportation systems, understudied by Jamaican counterparts. Nor should we cavil that the remuneration of these experts may be more than the salary of the person to whom they report - special skills come at a premium. The CEO must be given the same powers to hire and fire that he would have in a private sector company and the politicians must keep their interfering fingers out of the day-to-day affairs of the company.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
