Additional service cuts on the Go Westmoreland shared-ride system could be considered in response to an ongoing driver shortage, transit officials said.
Westmoreland County Transit Authority Executive Director Alan Blahovec said recent efforts to beef up and maintain the authority’s roster of drivers who operate small passenger buses as part of the system’s door-to-door transportation program for low-income, elderly and disabled riders has lagged.
“Really, from here it just gets worse and there’s a potential to cut all Saturday service,” Blahovec said.
This summer, the authority implemented a series of cutbacks that scaled back hours of operation for the shared-ride program and limited out-of-county travel to just three days a week. The service, which pre-pandemic scheduled as many as 800 rides a day, now schedules no more than 560 daily trips because of the driver shortage.
The authority has 33 full-time and seven part-time drivers on staff for the shared-ride system, a decrease from a month ago. Blahovec said the agency needs to hire 15 drivers to ensure services can remain at current levels.
“We’ve hired people, but they’re just not staying,” Blahovec said.
In recent months, the authority has held hiring events, increased pay for Go Westmoreland drivers and offered sign-on bonuses for new employees. Authority board members this week approved a plan to award $500 bonuses to agency staff who refer new employees to the agency.
Staffing levels are sufficient for the authority’s fixed-route bus service, which operates daily and Saturday service throughout most of Westmoreland County and commuter routes to Pittsburgh, officials said.
Ridership on the bus system leveled off over the last several months after more than a year of drastic declines related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Blahovec said the authority later this year expects to revisit service changes first proposed in 2019 for the bus system that include the potential to revise routes and add new service.
