Laketran announces Transit GO, a new employee transit benefit program for Lake County employers. In partnership with the Lake County Commissioners and Alliance for Working Together, the pilot program offers enrolled Lake County employers free Local Route bus transportation for any employee or recruit to provide reliable transportation to work or throughout the hiring process.

“It is getting harder to access a qualified workforce, especially for Lake County’s manufacturing industry,” shared Alliance for Working Together Director Juliana Petti. “Any additional benefits employers can offer will help bring workers to Lake County.”

For decades in Northeast Ohio, industrial, commercial and residential development have migrated outward, without an increase in jobs or people to support the spread, meaning jobs are located farther and farther from where people live. With the mass retirement of Baby Boomers, Lake County employers are struggling to fill vacancies among an aging population.

The new benefits program is funded by a $75,000 grant from The Paradox Prize, an initiative to improve the mobility of Northeast Ohio’s workforce and generate sustainable solutions to eliminate the “no car, no job; no job, no car” paradox in Northeast Ohio. Supporters of The Paradox Prize include the Fund for Our Economic Future, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, The Lozick Family Foundation, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Cuyahoga County, the Cleveland Foundation, and DriveOhio.

“We’ve heard from employers that reliable transportation impacts their recruitment and retention efforts,” shared Dominic Mathew, the Fund’s urban and regional planner for mobility innovations. “Our vision is to test ways to reduce transportation barriers for workers and help employers access the talent they need in an effort to drive long-term change.”

When the Fund for Our Economic Future and its partners launched The Paradox Prize last year, Laketran, the Lake County Commissioner’s Office, Workforce Development Board and Port Authority collaborated to see how transportation could play a role to help recruit and retain employees for Lake County employers.

“Laketran has added a significant amount of service with our two new in-county routes 8 and 9, and routes 10 and 12 that connect with downtown Cleveland,” shared Ben Capelle, CEO of Laketran. “We hope this new program will incent employers to consider transit options for their employees and enable them to offer a more competitive benefits package to bring new talent to Lake County.”

Laketran provides commuter express service between Cleveland, Eastlake, and Mentor for first-shift employees and offers hourly bus route service from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and every two hours on Saturdays throughout Lake County.

For more information about the Transit GO pilot, please contact Julia Schick at jschick@laketran.com or 440-350-1012.