JUTC BUSES are still running on the streets of the Corporate Area apparently unfazed by the prospect of losing their rubber tyres. The operators of these public transport vehicles may not have heard of the Minister of Transport's seeming resolve to put them on rails which have lain fallow since the Jamaica Railway Corporation ceased operation in 1992.
In truth Minister Pickersgill did not paint a very clear picture of what he had in mind to boost the public transport sector. One possible reason is that he spoke against the background of persistent failure to restore the railway service. The latest attempt has been negotiations with an Indian/Canadian consortium, Railtech Jamaica Ltd. But these talks appear to have hit a snag. The Minister said that Railtech had cited the potential impact of Highway 2000 with which the rail service would have to compete on roughly the same traffic corridor - from Kingston to Montego Bay.
In giving an update on the state of those negotiations the Minister told a press conference last week that it would cut travelling time and cost tremendously "if we could have the buses running on the train line"! Thus government was considering modifying commuter buses to run on rails and the Minister himself is going to London to examine such a project.
A few correspondents in letters to the Editor have reacted to this disclosure as a joke and "a hare-brained idea". And indeed there are some mixed signals from the Minister in that commuter buses in the main now serve the Corporate Area.
One initial reaction was that the buses would be retrofitted to serve the city in the manner of the tramcar lines of old. But since the old tram lines have disappeared that could not be the plan in which tremendous cost reduction is envisaged.
To put the modified buses on the railway lines would therefore seem to be what the Minister has in mind. That however would make the service a national one of street buses converted into rail cars! No wonder Mr. Pickersgill sees exciting times ahead for public transportation.
His trip to London may involve some excitement, but before then the public should hear much more of this Pickersgillian tale!
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
