Laketran Adds Cleveland To Mentor Service To Support Manufacturing Hub

Northeast Ohio workers aren’t just headed from the suburbs into the city center any more. To accommodate a growing demand for workers in Lake County’s manufacturing corridor, Laketran is now offering a transit line from downtown Cleveland to Mentor’s Tyler Boulevard.

The service will benefit employers including Mill-Rose, an industrial brush maker based in Lake County. Human Resources Director Jill Grauel says two of their employees are taking advantage of the transit service, but she expects the new line will open up the candidate pool to fill the company’s 30 open positions.

"Someone from Cleveland, even though it is 15 miles away, it could be light years away because they have no way to get here," said Grauel. "So having the opportunity to get on a bus cannot hurt. It can only help."

LakeTran’s CEO Ben Capelle says the eastbound service is the result of a yearlong survey to better serve the needs of companies looking for employees.

"We hear all the time about the challenges with employers getting access to the labor force in Cleveland, and we hope this is sort of the first step for us to make a good connection that people can use to get work and have a good job " said Capelle.

He adds, they were able to add the line, which runs six times both in the morning and afternoon, with little additional cost. The eastbound service piggybacks on the existing Park-n-Ride route that transports 700 people daily between Lake County and Cleveland.