There are currently about 90,000 jobs open in Connecticut in fields like manufacturing, healthcare, education and more. There is also, though, a long list of reasons why many people who need a job aren't applying for those jobs, including affordable childcare and transportation.
There's a new bus route that may help solve that transportation problem in some local communities.
NBC Connecticut's Mike Hydeck spoke with Joe Feest, the economic development director in Meriden.
Mike Hydeck: You're one of the places where that bus route goes. It goes from Meriden through Berlin to New Britain. How was that particular location chosen?
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Joe Feest: So Mike, when we talk about how it's chosen, the main factor is our TOD district in our downtown. So what happened is we already have a transportation hub right in the center, next to our beautiful green that we redid a couple years ago, with several hundred apartments right alongside both the train and our bus hub. So we know that there are a lot of people in that area that need jobs. So we thought this was a perfect, you could either say, start or ending, depending on which way you're coming from on the ride, for you to take it from Meriden, go all the way through Berlin and onto New Britain, and be able to then even connect further through the New Britain transportation hub as well.
Mike Hydeck: So when you have these transportation hubs, does this fill in the gap? Because obviously you have rail service there, too. Does this fill in the gap where those areas aren't covered by rail?
Joe Feest: It does because when you have the rail, you basically get dropped off at the train station. As you know, the Route 511 has many stops along the way, and we take it up the Berlin Turnpike, which has been an area that hasn't had bus transportation with stops on it for a long time. So this is probably the key factor of the success that we're seeing on this because it gets them, of course, you do have the train stations in between, but we're trying to drop them off conveniently at the employment spots along the way.
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Mike Hydeck: So when you start a new route, you have metrics to predict how it's going to go, but you don't really know how many people are actually going to get on the bus, pay the fare and use it. What's the response been so far?
Joe Feest: You know, the response has actually been great. I mean, we've only been open for a couple months, and we're seeing, on average, between 200 to 250 riders a day. So you know, CT Rides, Connecticut DOT and all of us are looking at this as a success because right now, we've already have people utilizing it, and thanks to you, we're going to get the word out even further. But I'm sure there are a lot of people that still don't even know about this.
Mike Hydeck: So we all know that we have a lot of these jobs that still need to be filled in Connecticut. Are you hearing from employers? Are they actually getting to employ some people who couldn't normally get there prior to this?
Joe Feest: We have had some success stories already of individuals that took the bus to go get a new job. They got the job, were able to get some earnings, and then were able to buy a car, and then start transporting themselves back and forth, and that's really what you want to do. This is a helping hand to help someone who doesn't have the means right now to be able to have their own transportation, get employment, eventually get a car or continue to ride, which we encourage both. But, I mean, you know, a car, as we all know, is a luxury that not everyone has, but it's something that's needed to go do errands and do things, and get to your job as we are here. So that's one of the success stories. They were able to get a job, improve their life, get a car, and now they're taking themselves back and forth to work.
Mike Hydeck: And as you know, a lot of the jobs we have available are for entry level machinists or nurse practitioners, people who don't get a big salary, so having to not have to spend on a car can help. Well, do you think there's going to be opportunities in the future to try to expand the transit in Meriden or is this kind of a step-by-step, depending on how many people use it?
Joe Feest: You know, everything is a step-by-step, because as you mentioned in the beginning, like when we were doing this, it takes a lot to get a new bus route, a lot of research, a lot of metrics and a lot of everything. So this was a success, and I would think that we would be able to add to it. One of the things I would like to see us start doing is changing some of the lines that we already have, and that takes a lot of metrics as well, because I think we can reroute some of them to go into new areas that we have employment, that we might not have a bus route near right now, and maybe add in a stop along the way. So there's a lot of work and a lot of improvement that can be done. But one of the things I wanted to mention too is that, you know, all this for under $4, you can get a pass that's good for 24 hours. So that's as many rides back and forth as you need within that time. So it's very economical to do this.
Mike Hydeck: And chances are, I don't know, if this is your opinion between the rail and the bus service, it could help, as far as affordable housing and helping more people kind of make ends meet. Correct?
Joe Feest: It does. Both of them have their key to success to help elevate people from poverty up into an area where they can afford and do some things. So I mean, the train station works great when your job is near the hub. So in other words, if you have a job in Meriden, you live in New Britain, if it's somewhere around our train station, that works out great because you can get right off and then walk to the employment. But as we said, the bus route is really enabling a lot of the job opportunities in between each one of the hubs in Berlin and in New Britain as well.
Mike Hydeck: That last mile is the technicality that everybody tries to fill.
