The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) has issued a series of rider alerts notifying passengers of the potential for service impacts on Monday, January 28 because of a possible labor shortage.
Bus drivers for DCTA’s demand response and fixed route services are contract employees hired through a management contract with First Transit and are part of the Amalgamated Transit Union. First Transit and ATU have been negotiating since last April on a new agreement. First Transit and ATU have recently reached an agreement. However, First Transit notified DCTA on Friday regarding concerns of a labor shortage on Monday, January 28. DCTA has not been involved in the negotiations between First Transit and its employees.
“DCTA, First Transit and the bus drivers share the concern for our passengers. While DCTA has no formal role in the agreement, our hope is that any concern over the new agreement can be resolved without impacting service delivery,” stressed Jarod Varner, DCTA Vice President of Transit Operations.
DCTA and First Transit are working through contingency planning to minimize impact to its services. Services that could be impacted include Connect, Access, NCTC Shuttle and UNT Shuttle. A-train service will not be impacted
“DCTA is unsure if this labor shortage will occur or to what extent,” stated Mr. Varner. “We wanted to be proactive in communicating potential impacts to our customers. We are confident that all services will be running but passengers could experience delays.”
DCTA will continuously issue rider alerts throughout the day to inform passengers of any service impacts.
First Transit has provided operational management services to DCTA since 2007 and their employees are not DCTA employees. DCTA provides fixed-route, demand response and paratransit bus services to the cities of Lewisville and Denton and demand-response service to the city of Highland Village. DCTA carries over 2.5 million passengers a year on its bus services.
