Ezroy Millwood, president and chief executive officer of the National Transport Cooperative Society (NTCS), displays the new logo in this October 18, 2007 file photo. The NTCS is operating at a loss, and has fallen into arrears on its licensing fees. - File
The bus collective, National Transport Cooperative Society (NTCS), commands a fleet of 164 that it values at $800 million, but the buses are ageing, the service is poor with few signs of improvement, and the owners are increasingly incapable of meeting financial obligations - to the co-op and to the state.
NTCS has strong competition in the state-operated JUTC fleet, but its members also operate as if they were each other's rivals, utilising dangerous manoeuvres in the heavily-trafficked capital to deny each other fares.
President of the cooperative, Ezroy Millwood, says collectively it takes $45 million to $50 million to operate the fleet and administer the cooperative, but that income often falls short.
The funds cover rent, utilities, wages for a staff of 20, legal representation, insurance, and spare parts. Any profit made by NTCS is shared according to the seating capacity of each bus.
Each bus operator is charged a membership fee of $55,000 for large units, while the owner of a 10 seat public vehicle pays $35,000, which according to Financial Gleaner calculations - assuming full compliance - amounts to $8.24 million per year or one-sixth of the total Millwood said it takes to maintain operations.
The fleet comprises 39 small units with seating for 10 passengers and 125 coaster buses with a carrying capacity of 30.
Big debts
On a daily basis, however, the crews cram considerably more people into the buses than they are equipped to carry.
Millwood is not claiming that individual bus operators are not turning over good fares, only that some have big debts and have to choose which expenses to prioritise.
"A number of bus owners owe money to banks, financial companies and other places," he said.
"The additional pressure may force them out of business."
The result is that they fall into arrears with their membership fees, and now the NTCS has found itself $17 million in arrears on licensing fees outstanding since August 2008.
NCTS buses operate under a 'sub-franchise licence' from the Ministry of Transport, but the state has refused to renew the arrangement until the cooperative clears the debt. Millwood has disputed the debt.
NTCS has paid $2 million of the $17 million and is said to have committed to paying $1.5 million per month until full restitution.
The cooperative has been operational since 1995, and over the years has collided on different issues with government, the most substantial of which was a legal dispute over the bus company's franchise that the state pulled in 2000.
NCTS initially won in court and was awarded $3.7 billion, but lost the legal battle when the case went to arbitration and got nothing.
The conduct of the bus operators is a sore point, and according to the Transport Ministry's communications officer Reginald Allen, a constant source of public complaint.
However, Millwood rejects the argument that conduct is an issue and counters by pointing to the accident rate of his organisation, as low.
"We have been operating executive buses in the Kingston Metropolitan region over the last 15 years and we have had only one fatality," he said.
"Our accident rate is the best of any company with this large fleet."
The Financial Gleaner has done its own spot checks, and found that a number of drivers employed to the NTCS habitually disregard the road code.
In peak hour traffic, they overtake on whichever side of the road they choose, often at top speed and swerving in and out of traffic lines.
Verbal attacks
Failure to give them a 'bly' often results in expletive-laden verbal attacks by the conductors.
Loud and mostly vulgar dancehall music is a staple on most of the routes except for those that travel to Greater Portmore from either Half Way Tree or downtown Kingston.
The Sunshine City bound bus crews, though not the best models of good behaviour, are better than their colleagues. Commuters can travel with a degree of comfort, depending on the discipline of the driver.
On the Lawrence Tavern and Golden Spring routes, the age-old problems of overcrowding, and body protrusion continue unchallenged.
Millwood does not deny that some public complaints against NTCS have merit.
"We have a few bad eggs - persons who drive carelessly, who disobey the law - but there is a system in place to deal with them."
Disciplinary action
The NTSC boss says the co-op has personnel who monitor the conduct of members, and when detected offenders are normally pulled off the road, the owners and the drivers called in, and the necessary disciplinary action taken - either suspension or a fine.
Millwood says, however, that some of the miscreants may well be persons already ejected from the organisation.
"I have given the police and Transport Authority the particulars of these buses but nothing has been done. But I really don't believe those are members of the part of the NTCS."
In the meantime, the safety of the passengers and the outstanding licence fees continue to be top issues for the Transport Ministry.
Millwood says a review of the NTCS account will see, he hopes, the total being reduced to a 'manageable' cost.
But he says the NCTS is concerned that government has not yet created the right environment for a private transport system to flourish and is lobbying for concessions.
The Transport Ministry mean-time, has signalled it is willing to continue accommodating the co-op within the system, saying JUTC alone cannot handle the business.
"The NTCS will have a place as long as they are willing to abide by the rules of engagement and a critical part of that is for them to honour their own undertaking given in a meeting recently in regards to the outstanding sub franchise fees," said Allen.
mark.titus@gleanerjm.com