1 month ago
9
Buttressed by a near one-third growth at the bottom line, toll road operator TransJamaican Highway Limited is looking to technological upgrades to drive efficiency and deliver even more profit.
It’s aiming for 80 per cent usage of its T-tags, for which commuters prepay and traverse its toll points without having to interface with a toll booth operator.
At the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday, TransJamaican CEO Ivan Anderson said the company aimed to grow the number of toll road users and scout others means of driving business.
“Improving the efficiency of our operation is the primary issue that we’re working on. The second area is obviously opening up (so that) new people can utilise the highway. Then, thirdly, we’re looking at other opportunities … both local and globally,” Anderson outlined to shareholders.
TransJamaican clawed US$82.8 million in revenue from commuters at year ending December 2024, an improvement of 10 per cent relative to the US$75.2 million reported in 2023.
Net profit improved by over 30 per cent, from US$24 million to US$31.3 million. The trend continued into the first quarter ended March 2025 with year-on-year revenue up 14 per cent and net profit up 32 per cent.
The use of T-tags, which TransJamaican has actively been promoting, has been steadily increasing, spurring revenues and driving profits, according to Anderson.
The ongoing campaign has resulted in growth in T-tag usage to over 52 per cent of revenue, as of June 2025. TransJamaican expects to hit the 60 per cent mark by the end of this year; while its medium-term goal is to grow the ratio to 80 per cent usage by 2028.
“One of the things that we’ve done is to introduce ‘queue combers’ who literally walk down the queues and offer people T-tags,” Anderson reported.
For the month of June, TransJamaican sold about 3,000 T-tags through the combers as well as the toll plazas, he added.
The hard push to grow the T-tag numbers and integrate technology began in early 2024.
“Over the past year, we have grown our tag usage by 28 per cent. In fact, today, approximately 1.1 million trips are done per month using tags; and so, the more people that use tags, the less people that use manual lanes (and) the more throughput we have through the toll plazas. So, by growing the tag usage, we have been able to reduce the congestion in the toll plazas,” Anderson said.
Toll traffic for 2024 was the highest ever at approximately 28.6 million, and continued the steady climb over five years from 27 million in 2023; 25 million in 2022; 22 million in 2021; and approximately 20.6 million in 2020.
“This year, we are spending about J$470 million on technology and physical upgrades to improve throughput,” Anderson said later in an interview with the Financial Gleaner.
The many upgrades include changes to the way the T-tags are read to recognise the vehicle and not just the tag. Account balances are immediately available while exiting the toll booth; and T-tag top-up is available through multiple channels, including Whatsapp, online, petrol stations using GoTopUp, and at the toll booths.
Toll users can use their credit card to pay the toll, but a further upgrade called ‘Tap & Go’, which will allow credit card payment at the toll booth without the intervention of the attendant, is soon to be introduced.
TransJamaican has also opened up an on-ramp to the highway at Freetown on the Clarendon-St Catherine border. New ramps will be opened at Heartlands, St Catherine to allow easier access to toll users from the residential complexes on the former Innswood sugar lands.
“No longer will you have to go all the way down to the roundabout at Old Harbour Road, but you can jump on Heartlands Road and then access the highway. No longer do you have to drive through traffic on Old Harbour Road to get to Jacaranda, Whitewater or Silver Sun,” Anderson said.
English (US) ·