Fare Increase Must be Twinned with Minimum Wage Increase

Opposition Spokesman on Transport Mikael Phillips says the 15% bus and taxi fare increase for private operators to take effect Monday, August 16, must be withdrawn and twinned with the minimum wage increase which has been pending since 2020. He argues that the number was plucked from thin air as a politically acceptable increase without reference to the soaring input costs over the period since the last adjustment in August 2013.

Opposition Spokesman says the fare increase is a knee-jerk reaction to the mounting disgruntlement in the transport sector, adding that it could not have come at a worse time. He argues that the suggested increase was not bench-marked against any affordability test, given that minimum wages have not been increased since August 1, 2018.

Phillips adds that it is unconscionable that the Government is imposing the increase before implementing recommendations from the minimum wage commission which he says has been languishing on the cabinet desk since January 2020.

Phillips says the Government’s management of fare adjustments in the transport sector has been disastrous in the past years, with fuel prices alone increasing by 40 % this calendar year.

Meanwhile, the Transport Ministry says fares for the elderly, the disabled, and children will remain at 50% of the adult fare, adding that there will be no change to the fare for the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) and Montego Bay Metro. Mikael Phillips notes that freezing fares charged by the JUTC was the right thing to do considering the deteriorating service levels.

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