Bus drivers cut, possibly transferred

AUSTIN (KXAN) - In a day that has yielded little good news for mass transit in Austin, Capital Metro’s contractor StarTran has announced the layoff of 13 employees.

Earlier on Monday, KXAN News learned Cap Metro would not release paperwork tied to the possible start date of CapMetro’s RedLine commuter rail service. That was followed by talk at Monday’s Cap Metro board meeting that ‘Dillo cuts might be on the table in order to balance the agency’s budget. Now, the contractor that provides Cap Metro’s fixed route operators has announced a need to reduce its workforce.

The layoff consisted of 11 full-time and 2 part-time fixed route operators. The one upside is that StarTran has promised jobs for those displaced workers in the MetroAccess paratransit operation of the operators qualify. According to a news release, operators who qualify would be able to start almost immediately, retain their seniority status and be eligible for re-hire on a fixed route in the future.

A similar offer to transfer operators to MetroAccess routes was turned down by the local union earlier this year. StarTran expressed disappointment at the union’s decision. Union leader Jay Wyatt scountered with the fact the union had turned down the shift in positions because it came with a $5 per-hour pay cut. The union already had agreed to one wage cut this year, Wyatt said.

This is not the first reduction in force this year for StarTran. StarTran reduced 21 non-union positions earlier in the year through a voluntary retirement program and hiring freeze. In additional, a pay freeze is in place for all administrative workers.

StarTran is the largest provider of bus drivers to CapMetro, employing about 500 drivers.