Effective Aug. 31, Pittsburgh Regional Transit will no longer require its employees to have the COVID-19 vaccine, the agency announced Tuesday.
PRT gave no explanation for its change in policy, which it announced in a release. When reached, Public Relations Director Adam Brandolph said, “We have no further comment.”
It is a notable reversal for PRT, which laid off 84 people — including 43 operators — who failed to comply with the mandate after it took effect on March 16, 2022. Already facing a shortage of drivers, the decision to part ways with nearly 50 drivers exacerbated the number of late and no-show buses.
At the time, PRT officials argued in a court filing that they were legally required to provide “safe and effective transportation services.” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said he fully supported the vaccine mandate, and that the county was “not going to negotiate public health.”
Local 85 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents many of the agency’s employees, said last year that the agency implemented the requirement unilaterally, rather than talk with the union first.
On Tuesday, Local 85 president Ross Nicotero said he could not comment on the end of the vaccine mandate.
In its release, PRT said the mandate’s purpose was to “promote the health and safety of our workforce…[and that of] thousands of vulnerable riders and communities that rely on public transportation daily.”
It noted that before the vaccine requirement, seven PRT employees died of COVID; since then, there have been no employee deaths or hospitalizations.
All of the employees laid off as a result of the vaccine mandate will have the opportunity to return to work, the agency said.
Advocacy group Pittsburghers for Public Transit applauded the decision Tuesday, writing on its website that “the reinstatement of fired transit workers will provide some immediate relief to our current service crisis, but will not be enough on its own to restore and expand service to pre-pandemic levels.”
PPT’s post asks PRT and the county to adopt recommendations made by Nicotero to improve hiring and retention of transit workers.
