Lack of operators moves missed trips from Pittsburgh Regional Transit buses to light rail

Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s problems with missed bus service because it doesn’t have enough operators now is beginning to show up on the agency’s light rail service, too.

Records requested by Pittsburgh Union Progress show that July and August were the worst two months since May 2022 with more than 4.6% of light rail trips canceled each month because no operators were available. The agency met its goal of less than 2% of light rail trips canceled for all but one other month during that time, June 2022 (2.74%).

Spokesman Adam Brandolph said the agency had been flirting with problems on the light rail system for several months. That took root during heavy vacation season in July and August, when scheduled trains never arrived and stranded riders 4.67% and 4.95% of the time, respectively.

The agency also was above 2% for missed trips on five of the first 11 days of September.

“I’d say we’ve been nipping and tucking for a few months just to get by,” Brandolph said. “If riders think we’ve had more trains canceled recently; that is not their imagination. It caught up with us with a lot of people on vacation.

“Ultimately, this is a manpower problem. Priority No. 1 is to hire more operators.”

Pittsburgh Regional, like many transit agencies across the country, has faced hiring difficulties for years despite having strong pay scales and top benefits. Those problems had a heavy effect on bus service beginning in February 2022, when the agency fired 84 union members for refusing to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, including 43 operators.

That resulted in missed bus trips as high as 18% in March 2022. As a result, the agency stepped up hiring and reduced trips on some routes so it could provide the service it promised.

So far, it hasn’t made any changes to the light rail schedule, where ridership has been slower to recover after the pandemic. CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman said that may not last and the agency could face rail schedule reductions in February — the next time union operators will pick their routes and change can be made — if performance doesn’t improve.

“We can hire more operators, decrease service or get creative,” she said. “Our focus for the future is to make sure we provide the service we say we’re going to provide, which we think is the most important thing to the rider.

“If we don’t get more people, we have to cut service.”

Right now, the problem is that the agency doesn’t have enough backup rail operators to cover when regular operators call off sick or go on vacation. The relief board, which has drivers unassigned for daily trips so they can fill in, is only at about 3% of the light rail staff when it should be at least 10%, so the agency hasn’t been able to cover for all operators who are unavailable.

That also presents problems when the agency needs extra staff for large events such as the Pittsburgh Steelers recent Monday night game. The agency wanted to run 10 trains that night but could only get staffing for eight, partially because of safety rules that would have prevented operators from providing late-night service for the game and returning for morning service without an eight-hour break between shifts.

The other problem is that most bus drivers and light rail operators aren’t cross trained to do each other’s work. It takes about five weeks of training to learn how to operate a light rail train.

The agency has a class in training now, but instead of the 16 it hoped to train only six signed up for the class.

The shortage of operators comes at a time when the agency already is struggling to rebuild ridership due to the pandemic. PRT has recovered about 60% of its bus ridership, but light rail is at about 46%.

The agency also is battling the age of light rail vehicles, with more than half of them beyond their normal life expectancy. The authority board set aside $1 million in this year’s capital budget to begin preliminary design for replacing the 80-train fleet, but that project could cost more than $500 million and delivery would take five to seven years after new trains are ordered.

“As far as having enough vehicles available, that is not an issue,” Brandolph said. “We have a good core of backup fleet available. [Canceling trips] is solely a manpower issue.”

The agency has taken numerous steps to increase hiring, including expanding advertising and participation in job fairs; changing the application process to give candidates a faster answer on whether they qualify; increasing the pay during training from $15 an hour to $19; paying a bonus of $1,000 to new operators who already have a CDL license, $1,500 for those with a CDL and a passenger endorsement.

As a result, the agency has hired 104 student operators through last week, nine more than the previous year. But that is barely keeping up with retirements, attrition and promotions.