Over 500 Port Authority employees don’t meet vaccine requirement, travel impact expected

PITTSBURGH — Port Authority announced today that riders are likely to experience “significant delays and a large number of missed trips” if more than 500 employees don’t meet the organization’s vaccination requirement.

In a statement, Port Authority advised riders to find other means of transportation, saying “with such a significant portion of its workforce unavailable, the agency will not be able to deliver up to 20% of its scheduled service for the next several weeks. It will not be possible to detail where service outages will occur day-to-day.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown the need to provide a safe transit environment for riders who rely on our services every day,” said Port Authority CEO Katharine Kelleman in the statement. “Enforcing the vaccine requirement is the best way for us to keep our riders, employees, and all our families safe. We understand this may leave us temporarily shorthanded, but at the end of the day, this is the right thing to (do).”

Port Authority announced in January that employees were required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by March 15 or face discipline, including up to being fired.

In the statement released today, Port Authority said 80% of the 2,700 employees are fully vaccinated, including every employee hired since October 2021.

Employees who don’t submit proof of vaccination will be held off with pay beginning March 16 until their disciplinary hearings the following week.

Port Authority said in the statement that riders are encouraged to use their tools to make trip planning easier, including TrueTime (https://truetime.portauthority.org/) or TrueTime by Text for up-to-date stop times by text message (http://truetime.portauthority.org/trackbytext).

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