Bus deal yet to be signed
published: Friday | January 2, 2004

By Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter

A SUB-FRANCHISE AGREEMENT between the National Transport Co-operative Society (NTCS) and the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is yet to be signed despite Friday's impending expiry of a temporary licence, which allows NTCS buses to ply various routes in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR).

Patrick Bailey, one of the two lawyers representing the NTCS and its president, Ezroy Millwood, said yesterday that the agreement was in its final stage, following meetings between the two organisations on December 18 and 23. The agreement, which would allow the NTCS to operate an Executive bus service, was expected to be signed on December 29 but was postponed.

In the meantime, the Transport Authority is warning that it is sticking to previous statements about removing unlicensed buses from the road.

TAKE THEM OFF

"Once we do not have a licence in hand and the buses are operating, we are going to take them off. That is the position we have always had and which we will be maintaining," said Paula Fletcher, the Authority's managing director. She said however, that once a licence is issued by JUTC, "we would not take any action."

The JUTC, on behalf of the Government, is to grant a sub-licence to the NTCS but negotiations have been going on from April 2001.

Mr. Bailey said the agreement was not signed because the NTCS was contending that it wanted a few adjustments. Some compromises were reached at the two meetings held in December.

"It was expected that the sub-licence agreement would have been signed on the 29th of December but it has not been signed. There is at the moment no real contention between the parties and it is expected that the signing should be done shortly. I would estimate within the first full working week of January "around January 6, 2004," Mr. Bailey said.

He said the compromises brokered include the NTCS' ability to use designated bus stops which have been identified.

Mr. Bailey said the NTCS has no problem with the JUTC's request to inspect the NTCS buses "at the level of services being carried out at an executive bus standard" and to specify the "various performance standards that they wanted us to meet."