Today
is Monday September 1st 2014, the day of the JUTC (Jamaica Urban
Transit Company) Amnesty for commuters to get their SmarterCard as explained in
the article “JUTC
announces amnesty for students, extends opening hours as it goes cashless”,
published Sunday August 31, 2014 1:16 pm, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
And
yes, I’m still boycotting the JUTC as I think JLP Leader Andrew Holness, though
justified, is really barking up the wrong tree, being as Bus fares in Clarendon
where I’m from are sky high as per my blog article
entitled “JLP
plans islandwide Bus Fare Protests - Audit of the JUTC needed as JUTC may be
Campaign Cash Cow for Local and General Elections”.
Queue
the Rihanna Song Shut up and Drive as that’s what these JUTC Drivers need to do
really!
This
as confirmed by the Horses’ Mouth, The Jamaica
Information Service in their article “JUTC
Grants One Day Amnesty to School Children”, published August 29, 2014 By
Alecia Smith-Edwards, The Jamaica Information
Service.
In
essence, the new SmarterCard System is just an upgrade of the Card Reader
System, BUT with NEW Cards called SmarterCards. In fact, I’m willing to bet
it’s the same contractor that originally installed the SmartCard system,
possibly now owned by another company that has taken up the Government of
Jamaica and thus the Ministry of Transport and Work’s JUTC portfolio as a new
client.
I’m
heading out to Half-Way-Tree to top up the JUTC Smarter Card for the daughter
of a friend where I live as per the instructions in the article “JUTC opens
smarter card processing centre”, published: Sunday August 31, 2014 10:36
am, The Jamaica Gleaner. Trust me, I
know I’ll be very disappointed once I reach Half-Way-Tree.
Chaos on Back to School
Day –SmarterCard Chaos as KMTR gets 100 JUTC Buses and watches Petrol
I'm
now reading that JUTC’s offices at East Parade in downtown Kingston are
jam-packed with frustrated commuters who since 8am have been trying to get a
JUTC SmarterCard as stated in the article “Smarter Card
chaos, published Monday”, September 01, 2014 By Kimmo Matthews Observer staff
reporter, The Jamaica Observer.
So
what will the JUTC be doing to reduce the costs of operating their Buses,
seeing as they show no signs of any intention to conduct an audit?
This
really sounds more like they created another job for more PNP Party supporters.
There
are also placing another 100 JUTC Buses on the KMTR (Kingston Metropolitan Transport
Region) Routes that are in need of Buses, bringing the Fleet total to 445 as
stated in the article “JUTC to Add 100 Buses
to KMTR Monday”, published August
29, 2014 By Alecia Smith-Edwards, The Jamaica
Information Service.
This
up from the reduced numbers of 345 during the Summer of 2014, meaning that
these additional 100 are just the same Buses, just refurbished and cleaned
(hopefully?) in anticipation of the New School Term starting Monday 1st
September 2014. Hope they fixed the Air Conditioning as well, as that's a real
problem I've experienced i.e. the AC Dripping on me!
In
addition, there will be schedules posted on the JUTC Website listing the Bus
numbers and their routes, which will also be published in both The Jamaica Observer and The Jamaica Gleaner to quote JUTC
Managing Director, Colin Campbell: “So, everybody will be able to buy a copy of
the Gleaner, or the Observer on Sunday and you will be able to keep that
schedule and select the route that applies to you. You will be able to see how
many Buses are on that particular route and what is the frequency, what is the
first arrival or first departure time in the morning, and you’ll be able to
know that “on my route, there is a Bus every 10 minutes or every five minutes’
and you’ll be able to plan your life according to that schedule”.
JUTC's AVL – Are we
There Yet as Vehicle Tracking may placate Smartphone toting Commuters
But
it's their other innovation that has me interested, that being the JUTC's AVL
(Automatic Vehicle Locator) as explained in the article entitled “JUTC
to roll out Bus tracking system for commuters”, published Friday, August
29, 2014 BY KIMMO MATTHEWS
Observer staff reporter, The
Jamaica Observer.
This
AVL gonna make people really wanna take a JUTC Bus for the simple reason that
once you have a Tablet and a Smartphone with the AVL App to access to the JUTC Website, you'll eventually be able in the
future to track the location of any JUTC Bus simply by entering the route code.
Best
of all, you’ll not only be able to track Buses and possibly log complaints by
the new System but a Lost and Found may be easily established now, both for
missing children taking the wrong Bus as well as people who careless leave
their valuables on the JUTC Bus.
After
all, if the JUTC Bus is trackable and you have the ticket stub, you can use the
JUTC Bus number on the JUTC Bus to locate and report what you lost, be it your
little children or your valuables.
Suddenly
in my prophetic vision I see the Lost and Found Department at JUTC getting
bigger! But if this AVL System is implemented the right way, it'll be the
ultimate way to placate smartphone toting complainers as it relates to the fare
increase.
It’s
not quite Free Internet and a Food Court upgrade I was hoping for from PAMS as
described in my blog
article entitled “PAMS
to debut GOJ branded Food Court in Half-Way-Tree Transport Center - Making
revenue from Unruly smartphone toting High School students via Cooked Food and
JA$100 a week Wi-Fi Internet”, but this is good enough to please the most
Tech-savvy among us!
At
least they'll be able to tell EXACTLY where the JUTC Bus is, assuming they can
read those tiny little maps on those little screens!
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