Westmoreland Transit bus ads expanded to help bolster revenue

Westmoreland County Transit Authority buses could serve as mobile help wanted ads to bolster flagging revenues as ridership stagnates amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Authority board members approved a revision to the agency’s contract with a private advertising agency that will allow help wanted signs to appear on buses as they circulate through the county and on commuter routes into Pittsburgh.

“Two-and-a-half years ago, we hired a private company to sell advertising on the buses, and that was a very big increase in revenue,” said authority Deputy Director Ashley Cooper-Brounce. “Now, we’ve had a few companies that wanted to advertise for employees, but help wanted wasn’t authorized in our policy.”

Bus advertisements generated an average of about $9,000 a year before the program was outsourced to a private company. Ads this year generated $64,000, a figure that could have been higher had the authority’s policy allowed help wanted signs on the buses.

Cooper-Brounce said additional revenues could result in allowing the additional ads.

Money raised through additional bus ads would help offset a reduction in fare box revenue that has occurred as this year as the pandemic progresses.

Officials said ridership on fixed-route buses is down by at least 70% from a year ago. Fare box revenue has dropped by more than $156,000 since 2018.

Those declines came as the authority took over control of running its bus and paratransit routes at the start of the year from a private contractor.

Service cuts were implemented in the spring as ridership plunged. In October, the authority restored some of its bus service.

Despite service reductions and flagging ridership, administrators said authority bus drivers will continue to be paid for full-time duty. The authority will draw from $7.3 million in federal CARES Act funding it received this year to ensure staff continues to be paid full salaries, Executive Director Alan Blahovec said.

“The CARES Act money was very important to keep service running and to keep our people whole,” Blahovec said.