Dionne Rose, Staff ReporterFOR THE first time since its inception, the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is projecting an operating profit of more than $87 million for the 2006/07 fiscal year.
The company made the projection in the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year ending March 2007, tabled in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
The agency has reported losses for the previous fiscal years. For the 2004/05 fiscal year, the company reported losses of more than $551 million with a decline in losses to $476 million for the 2005/06 fiscal year.
The company is, however, projecting to earn an income of $3.45 billion in the 2006/07 fiscal year, up from almost $2.6 billion for the 2005/06 fiscal year.
The report showed that the company spent the majority of its operating costs on wages, followed by fuel, repairs and maintenance of buses.
The company over the years has been plagued with heavy operational losses, a consistent decline in passenger load, accidents, vandalism and robbery.
STUDY
In 2002, the Government commissioned a study aimed at improving efficiency at the state-owned bus company.
The study was carried out by a team of Swedish consultants who drafted a set of recommendations that should have seen the company operating profitably.
Among the recommendations and targets contained in the report were a 25 per cent reduction in accidents; a 25 per cent reduction in the number of breakdowns compared to the 2001 figures; the introduction of a cashless prepaid ticketing system where, at the end of March 2003, more than 10 per cent of the total number of trips would be done through this system.
Investigations carried out by The Gleaner last year showed that some of these targets were not achieved, such as the 25 per cent reduction in accidents.
Instead, there were 1,398 reported accidents in 2001; 1,375 in 2002; 1,409 in 2003 and below 1,500 for the period ending March 2005.
The JUTC was incorporated in July 1998 to provide stage and express carriage services within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region.
The company currently operates a fleet of 620 buses on 90 routes and operates sub-licences on 16 routes.
