JUTC says tinting meets international standards

The Jamaica Urban Transit Company Ltd (JUTC) is seeking to assure the public that, while the level of tinting on some of its newer buses is darker than on others, all the tints are in keeping with the international ISO standard 35-38 per cent specification for public transportation.

"The tinting was factory-applied and cannot be readily separated from the windows of the buses," Reginald Allen, corporate com-munications manager at the JUTC, said in a release yesterday.

The JUTC was responding to concerns raised by the Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators (JATOO) over the Ministry of Transport's importation of the buses with darker tint.

"This move by the Government is a blatant disregard not only for the rule of law, but also for the small businessmen and women in the transport industry," JATOO president, Louis Barton, declared in a release issued a day earlier. "It has further eroded the trust and confidence we had in the Ministry of Transport."

Newly applied standard

Yesterday, Allen said the darker tinting apparently arose because of a difference in the newly applied standard in Jamaica, and in Europe, where the ISO 35-38 per cent specification is applied in respect of tinting on public passenger vehicles. The JUTC buses are from Belgium.

"As a result of the difference in the locally applied standard since late last year, and the international standard, a request from Jamaica for 'normal' tinting was responded to with the normal ISO 35-38 per cent output," Allen said.

He added that the darker tinting was also apparently applied to the new set of buses because it affords a more comfortable ride with greater air-conditioning capacity and internal security, which have been key planks of the new JUTC service.

Allen said, however, that Transport Minister Mike Henry has noted that concerns have been raised about the level of inward visibility that the tinting affords. He said Henry has mandated that efforts be made to remedy the situation.