Westmoreland Transit sees increased ridership as plans for revised service loom

Ridership on commuter and local bus service continues to rebound, according to the Westmoreland County Transit Authority

The bus service saw the number of passengers increase by nearly 6% in January and over the last year its performance has been on an upward trajectory following declines caused by the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in 2020.

“We’re far from where we were before covid, but our service is recovering,” said authority Executive Director Alan Blahovec.

The authority currently operates 16 daily and seven weekend routes.

Ridership was on the decline even before the onset of the pandemic. But the number of riders plummeted throughout 2020 both on the authority’s commuter service into Pittsburgh and its local service throughout Westmoreland County.

The authority’s bus service carried more than 400,000 passengers annually prior to the pandemic.

During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, ridership fell off to just more than 113,000 passengers. It has steadily increased over the last three years and is on pace to approach about 200,000 riders in the current fiscal year that ends June 30.

Although about 75% of the authority’s bus passengers travel on the system’s commuter service into Pittsburgh, Blahovec said some of the system’s largest recent gains in riders involve local service on routes between Greensburg and Latrobe, and Greensburg to North Huntingdon.

The increases come as the authority prepares to revamp its service.

A project to re-evaluate the authority’s routes and service structure is expected to completed in the coming weeks. Blahovec said the study, financed by PennDOT, will be soon be unveiled and will recommend potential new and revised bus service.

“It won’t be major revisions, just some tweaks,” Blahovec said.

The authority in 2018 announced recommendations for substantial changes to its routes and new service options that also included the potential for ride-sharing services.

Those plans were put on hold and never implemented after the authority fired its private service provider and took over operation of its bus and paratransit programs in early 2020.

A new examination of authority services was commissioned last year by PennDOT and will take into consideration post pandemic transportation needs, Blahovec said.