My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: How JUTC Buses for Manchester and Clarendon children will have Digicel LTE and Mobile Money

Sunday, June 12, 2016

How JUTC Buses for Manchester and Clarendon children will have Digicel LTE and Mobile Money

JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transit Company) is set to make the children of Clarendon and Manchester very happy come September 2016.

They're finally rolling out their service to Clarendon as reported in the article “JUTC to Roll Out Rural Pilot Service”, published June 10, 2016 By Chris Patterson, The Jamaica Information Service.  

Google Logo

Transport Minister, Mike Henry made the announcement during a Sectoral Debate in Parliament on Wednesday June 8th 2016. He announced that the start of a three-route pilot program will see the JUTC buses run from Old Harbour in St Catherine to parts of Clarendon and close to Manchester in September 2016

This may be a part of the Multi-Modal Transport plan for the rest of Rural Jamaica which involves Buses and Trains, possibly made of bamboo and coming in September 2016 as noted in my blog article entitled “How Mike Henry's Railway Revival means Wi-Fi and Bamboo Train Carriage seats by September 2016”. 

So what does this mean for the residents living in Clarendon and Manchester?

35 JUTC buses for Clarendon - Guinea Pigs for Digicel LTE and Mobile Money

It's simple really; they'll be able to travel more easily to and from work as well as School.

This as the real beneficiaries will be children going to High School as noted in the article “JUTC To Extend Services To Clarendon”, published Thursday June 9, 2016, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Children who go to the Garvey Maceo High in south west Clarendon as well as Glenmuir High in May Pen will benefit. The JUTC buses may not reduce the cost of travelling from May Pen to Gimme-Me-Bit, which is close to Milk River, where I grew up, but it’ll make the ride a bit more tech-driven.

Google Logo

This as these JUTC Buses will also come packed with Wi-Fi as predicted in my blog article entitled “Why JUTC Wi-Fi by September 2016 means Digicel Mobile Money launch imminent”. 

Digicel is the company providing the Wi-Fi Internet Service for the JUTC buses along with support for their AVLM (Automatic Vehicle Location/Messaging) service on Google Maps as explained in my blog article entitled “Why @JUTCltd @Google Transit from @UWImona Computer Science Department is the next AVL”. 

Seeing as they've now launched Digicel LTE as detailed in my blog article entitled “US$50 million 60Mbps Digicel LTE Network as Caricel and FLOW prep for August 2016 Launch” they may be upgrading the JUTC buses with the LTE based Wi-Fi modems come September 2016.

Guess that may explain where all that JA$100 million per annum is being spent as reported in the article “Big Bucks On Buses - JUTC Defends $100 Million IT Spend Annually”, Published Sunday June 12, 2016 by Ryon Jones, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Now all they have to do to save on fuel is switch to using cooking oil as biodiesel and they'd save a ton of money while going green as explained in my blog article entitled “Why Biodiesel and Hydroelectric Power at PCJ's Alternative Energy Expo a must before 2020”.

High schoolers in Clarendon, St. Catherine and Manchester will not only be travelling on the JUTC but they also get to try out Digicel's Mobile Money Platform as well as Digicel LTE at the same time!


No comments: