Westmoreland Transit adds drivers, cuts overtime costs

Westmoreland County Transit cut overtime costs by 42% in February, easing a budget crunch that impacted the agency during the first month after it took over operations of its fixed-route and shared-ride para transit services from a private contractor, officials said.

The transit authority saw overtime for drivers reach more than $30,000 in January. Through the first three weeks of February, those costs dipped to $17,000 as five additional drivers were hired and assigned to the agency’s shared-ride programs, providing door-to-door appointment service for low-income and disabled riders.

Additional staffing, along with a refocus on efficiency, led to the overtime cuts, said Ashley Cooper-Brounce, the authority’s fiscal manager.

“Our dispatchers are now looking differently at our end of days, when we have vehicles all over county roads. In the past, we wouldn’t pull drivers off the roads to keep our on-time performance high. Now, we’re looking at having more efficient service,” Cooper-Brounce said.

The change, though, hasn’t affected the authority’s performance. She said the authority in February continued to operate with 97% of riders arriving on time at their destinations.

Authority officials said they were surprised by skyrocketing overtime costs this year after the agency assumed operational duties for its fixed-route and Go Westmoreland services.

For decades, the authority hired private contractors to run and maintain the buses. Last fall, it terminated a five-year, $39.5 million contract with Ohio-based National Express Transit over issues that included driver shortages and failures to properly service the buses and other passenger vehicles.

The authority, for the first time since it was created in the 1970s, hired its own driving and maintenance staff over a two-month period and, on Jan. 1, took over as its own operator.

The hiring process still is ongoing. Cooper-Brounce said five drivers and dispatchers were added to the payroll in January and three additional drivers for Go Westmoreland are expected to begin a training class next week.