Westmoreland transit authority looks to bump up local bus service

A portion of Westmoreland County’s local bus service, slowed because of the coronavirus pandemic, will be restored in September.

Westmoreland County Transit Authority Executive Director Alan Blahovec said that an informal survey of riders determined an interest in added public transportation for routes around the county.

Specifics about which routes could resume won’t be unveiled for another few weeks, with details on the revised schedule to come sometime next month.

“We cut back at the beginning of the pandemic and, now, we’ve had some requests for some additional service. We’re looking at that in an attempt to get back to a more normal service. We’re working on a plan,” Blahovec said.

The authority operates 18 daily routes on weekdays and another six on Saturday. Since March, at the outset of the pandemic, ridership on all routes, including commuter service into Pittsburgh, has seen dramatic declines.

Ridership dropped nearly 75% over the last year . The authority reported 31,000 passengers in July 2019, with just 8,200 this July, Blahovec said.

Anticipated changes will include earlier and later runs on local routes.

Commuter service will continue to operate at reduced levels.

“… A lot of people told us they will be staying home until at least 2021,” Blahovec said.

Additional commuter trips could be added, if needed. That service, once the transit system’s most popular, had been in decline before the pandemic.

“I don’t know we will ever get back that commuter ridership we had. If it doesn’t come back, we can use those resources on the local service,” Blahovec said.

Reduced ridership means less revenue. Officials said $7 million in federal covid-relief funds will enable the authority to continue operations.

Meanwhile, Go Westmoreland, authority’s paratransit door-to-door shared ride program for elderly and low-income residents, has continued during the pandemic, albeit with about 50% fewer riders, officials said.

As a concession to the pandemic, fewer riders are being grouped together on Go Westmoreland buses while the service was amended to allow trips for curbside pickups at local stores. Blahovec said the authority has granted requests for solo rides in situations where passengers are unwilling to travel in groups.