Go Westmoreland paratransit bus drivers are getting raises.
Westmoreland County Transit Authority board members this week approved 4.6% raises for nonunion drivers with the agency’s shared-ride program which provides subsidized door-to-door trips in small buses to seniors, disabled and low-income riders.
Driver pay will increase to $15 per hour starting Sept. 1, and under the new salary scale, their pay will increase to $15.50 per hour after a year on the job, and to $16 per hour after two years.
Officials said the increased pay scale is designed to attract drivers to fill dozens of vacant jobs, which has led to service cuts and the potential for more reductions.
“We are still at a critical point,” said authority Executive Director Alan Blahovec.
As of late this week, the authority’s Go Westmoreland system still needed to hire about 10 drivers to ensure service will remain at current levels. The paratransit system earlier this week scheduled 670 trips a day, a substantial increase from this time a year ago when the coronavirus pandemic surged.
Officials said the system scheduled up to 800 shared rides a day prior to the pandemic.
The paratransit system currently has 42 drivers on the road with another handful awaiting training classes. A hiring fair conducted this month produced about 18 job applicants, including 15 who sought driver positions, Blahovec said.
The authority also instituted a $750 signing bonus to attract drivers.
“The people we have are working like crazy,” Blahovec said.
The authority’s fixed-route bus system also is short on drivers and requires about 55 on the road to meet basic demands for the 18 daily and six weekend routes, including commuter service to Pittsburgh. Blahovec said about four additional drivers are needed for the union jobs, which have more stringent requirements than positions with the Go Westmoreland system.
The starting pay for fixed-route drivers is $23.20 per hour. No signing bonuses are being offered at this time.
