Mountain Line Transit Authority temporarily cuts down customer service hours

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Mountain Line Transit Authority is temporarily scaling back its customer service hours as of Tuesday, May 27, amid staffing shortages, according to officials.
CEO Maria Smith told 12 News that the reason for this change is the fact that the Morgantown facility currently has one full-time employee, as opposed to two like they usually have.
Prior to this change, the transit authority had customer service availability seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Moving forward, Mountain Line Transit Authority will offer customer service to its customers from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.
'So we're cutting back the hours in order to you know, not burn them out,' said Smith. 'We do expect this to be a temporary problem [and] that we'll be back to full staff soon.'
According to Smith, Mountain Line typically keeps a part-time employee on their staff who would fill in during times when it was facing a shortage. However, it's currently having trouble filling that position, which has resulted in them getting temporary help from somebody with a temp agency.
'They've carried us through a little bit up until now, but they were no longer able to continue,' Smith added, regarding the temp worker. Therefore, the facility is looking to hire temps and/or a part-time employee to help spread out some of the work, so that they can return to normal hours of operation for the customer service center.
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This part-time worker would typically cover on Wednesdays, but Smith stated that they should be prepared to cover whenever either of the other two employees are out sick or on vacation. Some of the job responsibilities include updating the mobile app and answering phone calls for all riders, which includes letting them know where buses are and what time they're arriving if there's some sort of delay.
In the interim, Mountain Line Transit Authority will have staff members available from 3-5 p.m. to answer some questions via phone call. Anytime after that window, riders are encouraged to download the mobile app and make sure to be at their bus stop at least five minutes prior to their bus's scheduled arrival time.
'All services are running as […] normal,' said Smith. 'Currently, there's a lot of construction in the area, so some routes are running a little bit late, but everything is still running.'
Anybody interested in applying should call the Mountain Line Transit Authority at (304) 296-3680.
Smith also told 12 News that all of Mountain Line's local routes are running as usual, including their Grey Line. The Pifer Terminal will still be open to the public as well, including access to the restrooms and waiting area.
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