About 2,300 unionized bus operators, maintenance workers and office staff have a new four-year contract with Pittsburgh Regional Transit that includes wage increases of 15%.

Workers approved the contract by a 2-1 margin during daylong voting Sunday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, said Ross Nicotero, president and business agent for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85. The PRT board is expected to approve the deal perhaps as soon as its monthly meeting on Friday.

The contract provides wage increases of 4% each in the first two years and 3.5% the last two years. The starting rate for a new operator had been just under $25 an hour, and the top rate was more than $38 an hour.

Nicotero said the deal also cuts the steps for an operator to reach top scale from four years to three.

The cost of healthcare was a sticking point during negotiations, Nicotero said. The agency has been told its health insurance costs will increase about 19% beginning Jan. 1.

As a result, the union agreed to minor changes with the level of coverage on some individual items, but there was no change in the employee contribution, deductibles or retiree coverage.

“We made some cuts with a scalpel rather than a machete,” Nicotero said.

The contract also returns the picks that drivers make by seniority for the routes they want to staff to four times a year; it is three in the current contract.

The new deal replaces a four-year contract that expired June 30, but it’s not unusual for the agency and union to extend beyond the expiration. The deal is retroactive.

Contract talks occurred under the backdrop of several positive issues for local public transit. The agency and operators received strong positive reviews for the temporary shuttle service set up to move an estimated 180,000 football fans into and out of Pittsburgh during the NFL Draft in April, and ridership has been growing this year after remaining fairly flat during the early years after the pandemic.

Nicotero said the draft, in particular, showed the union and PRT can work together to produce positive outcomes.

“When they listen to my members and we work together, we showed that good things can happen,” he said.

The new deal also provides the agency with guaranteed costs as it continues to deal with long-term funding problems.

Transit agencies across the state have been waiting since 2024 for the state Legislature to increase the state subsidy for transit. Last year, the state allowed PRT and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to use state money intended for capital improvements to help cover operating costs for two years to avoid drastic service cuts while officials work out a subsidy deal.

That authorization runs out in June, and no action has been taken yet.

The contract and draft success will help in the funding battle, Nicotero said,

“Now we can go together side by side and get the funding worked out,” he said.

Authority spokesman Adam Bradolph declined comment except to confirm the board is likely to vote on the contract Friday.

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