New Laketran service could bolster economy

We’ve heard and read a lot in recent years about how challenging it’s become to fill openings for manufacturing jobs in Lake County.

Certainly, much has been reported about the skills gap between manufacturing job requirements and many high school graduates entering the job market. But there’s another barrier that can keep job applicants from pursuing manufacturing jobs.

That is: What if potential employees can’t find a way to get to and from work? Let’s face it, not all adults own a car or can join a car pool. And for a job seeker who doesn’t have his or her own set of wheels and wants to seek manufacturing jobs in an area where they are plentiful but farther away — let’s say, in a neighboring county — the matter becomes more complicated.

In regard to this commuting conundrum, we were pleased to hear about a new initiative started by Laketran. After years of planning, Laketran has officially launched transit service along Lake County’s largest manufacturing corridor, adding to the connectivity its Park-n-Ride service provides between Lake County and downtown Cleveland.

The agency transports 700 commuters between Lake County and their downtown Cleveland jobs daily.

More recently, the regional transit system has seen Cleveland residents, and those from as far away as Middleburg Heights, using the Park-n-Ride service to commute eastbound into Lake County.

“Typical commuter Park-nRide service is only productive in one direction, but as downtown Cleveland increases in population, it becomes more and more important for suburban employers to have access to that labor pool,” said Laketran CEO Ben Capelle. “I hope that what we’ve done with our Park-n-Ride service opens new opportunities to our local employers and job seekers in Cleveland.”

According to a news release, Tyler Boulevard in Mentor is the major arterial leading to 10 industrial boulevards lined with over 300 employers and 7,500 jobs, making it the seventh largest concentration of manufacturing companies in the state.

It seems to us that Laketran has implemented a viable plan to help connect employers in a manufacturing hotbed of Lake County with potential job applicants

It seems to us that Laketran has implemented a viable plan ... from Cleveland.

We also like the fact that Laketran came up with this idea in response to needs expressed by key entities and individuals with knowledge of the Lake County employment market.

Last year, working with Mentor and other regional economic development stakeholders, Laketran surveyed local manufacturers and staffing agencies to better understand the transportation needs of current and potential employees.

“The need for public transit service along Tyler Boulevard to help recruit and retain employees is something we’ve heard for a long time from the employers, staffing agencies and even social service organizations trying to help people get back to work,” Capelle said. “Our evaluations confirmed the need for service and we modeled several different options.”

“The routes will use Tyler Boulevard as they travel to and from Cleveland,” Capelle said. “We were able to change the times outside the main service, so it will not affect our existing customers, but it will allow job seekers in Cleveland to catch a Laketran bus in Cleveland with a direct trip to Tyler Boulevard. Lake County residents will be able to transfer from our route buses along state Route 306 to access the new service.

“It is not a perfect solution, but it is one we can implement with very little impact on our budget,” he added. “The best option is traditional fixed route service, but unfortunately with the significant revenue cuts from the state and the overwhelming growth of our Dial-a-Ride service, we cannot afford to operate a true fixed route with hourly service.”

Currently, there are 11 stops on each side of Tyler. The goal, the system confirmed, is to have stops every quarter of a mile to serve all the businesses along the corridor.

The new service began Jan. 28 and provides six morning and afternoon trips that best serve first-shift workers.

In conclusion, we believe that the service launched by Laketran shows that the transit agency is committed to playing a role in bolstering economic development in Lake County. Transportation shouldn’t be an obstacle for willing workers to get to and from their jobs, and Laketran has come up with a way to remove this hurdle for Cleveland residents who want to work at one of Mentor’s many manufacturing plants.