By Katrina Marshall
In the throes of a Wisconsin winter, temperatures plummet — often accompanied by a snowy deluge. Imagine walking multiple blocks to the nearest bus stop before dawn while pushing a stroller, or perhaps working a higher-wage second or third shift at the risk of traversing unsafe industrial parks, relying on ride shares to return home in the early morning hours.
So repeats the transportation cycle for many members of our communities’ workforce who face barriers like these on a daily (and nightly) basis. Today, transportation has become more than moving a vehicle or goods along a corridor. For Melissa Kraemer-Badtke, executive director of the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, it is about moving people.
“Having an extensive bicycle and pedestrian network allows people to bike or walk to a transit bus stop for employment opportunities,” she says. “But how do we get everyone everywhere they need to go with a limited number of government resources? What does ridership look like? What are the most efficient routes? How can we help our public transportation services be more successful? To answer these questions, East Central continues to collaborate with our communities and partner organizations to create a cohesive transportation network that works for all community members.”
A professional predicament
“Like many of us, I’ve never had to rely on mass transit to get to work, school or a doctor appointment. And that means we’re practically oblivious to the importance of safe and reliable transportation for someone, either in a training program or while employed at a job,” says Anthony Snyder, CEO of the Fox Valley Workforce Development Board.
“We read every day that Wisconsin is facing an unprecedented labor shortage. Many older workers chose to bail on working once the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and smaller families mean fewer kids growing into tomorrow’s workers. Pile on challenges faced by those who don’t have reliable transportation or cannot drive, and you eliminate even more people from the labor pool,” he says.
FVWDB serves its customers through a mix of state and federal dollars to provide training, retraining and support to program participants. “Nearly every grant that offers dollars for retraining also has support dollars to cover issues like transportation during training,” Snyder says.
One of those grants, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), covers transportation costs for participants while enrolled in that program. Tara Stevenson is a WIOA youth career planner for the nonprofit Labor Education & Training Center in Fond du Lac. The organization is contracted through the FVWDB to provide WIOA services for several counties.
“Transportation is a huge systemic problem, especially now that people have to travel farther,” Stevenson says. As a case manager, she helps participants eliminate or minimize barriers to self-sufficient employment; transportation is one such barrier.
Stevenson says many underestimate the cost of transportation — which, when owning a car, includes regular fill-ups, monthly payments, long-term maintenance like oil changes, annual registration fees, full-coverage insurance, towing services and even tire replacements for flats.
“What are people earning? Are they earning enough to be self-sufficient — which includes transportation to get the job, get to work and keep the job? Employers are becoming more competitive, and wages are starting to increase … but it’s still not enough for single parents who are also caregivers,” she says. “There has to be more than one solution.”
While not every business has the resources or ability to provide creative transportation options for employees, the good news is that awareness about this multilayered issue is growing, with several available resources spanning the state.
Valley Transit not only provides safe and reliable public transportation, but through its mobility management program, it helps employers and workers navigate transportation solutions. With expertise, travel training and community connectivity, the goal of Valley Transit is to help more people get to work.
In addition, Valley Transit launched a partnership with Lawrence University to offer free rides to students who can provide a student ID. The free ride pilot program began in January and aims to strengthen the connection for college students to Appleton and the surrounding area.
“We see ourselves as being an important part of the solution by bridging the gap to employment (or from unemployment). If we can remove the barrier of transportation — and the barriers associated to accessing transportation — for companies and job seekers, it’s a win-win,” says Valley Transit Mobility Manager Sarah Schneider, who plans and strategizes alongside General Manager Ron McDonald.
Thinking outside the bus
Without transportation, unemployment can rise, putting additional stress on a community’s social services and leading to food insecurity, homelessness, and mental and physical health issues, says Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corp. President and CEO Tricia Rathermel.
In 2019, Greater Oshkosh EDC launched Winnebago Catch-A-Ride (WCAR) in collaboration with Lutheran Social Services’ Make the Ride Happen. WCAR provides around-the-clock employment transportation with door-to-door drop-offs where public and personal transportation is not available. Since its inception, the service has provided 7,000 rides, including more than 3,000 last year.
If a person’s hours of work, home address or work address do not fall within the limits and operational hours of GO Transit, Valley Transit or any other public transportation, they qualify for Catch-A-Ride services. The program is not meant to duplicate services but rather fill in the gaps for existing transportation services throughout Winnebago County.
“In addition to making transportation available, we make it affordable by utilizing volunteers and subsidized rates,” Rathermel says. “This allows someone who’s unemployed or underemployed to afford to get themselves to work.”
Bay Area Workforce Development Board Executive Director Matt Valiquette says overcoming transportation challenges will require community mobilization and collaboration.
“The challenge is far too complex for a single organization, business or workforce development board to unilaterally solve,” he says.
Collaborating with community and faith-based organizations, many of which are already helping individuals overcome transportation challenges, also is critical, Valliquette says. Partnerships can expand and enhance assistance available to people.
“This may be an exciting opportunity for employers to develop partnerships with their local workforce board (and vice versa) to better ensure ‘opportunity talent’ transportation issues are properly addressed and overcome,” Valiquette says.
Cost of car ownership
According to move.org, it costs roughly $5,264 every year to own a car in the United States. This includes the average costs for car payments, gas, car insurance and replacement parts across every state in the country — some of which have much higher costs than others. The average monthly cost of owning a car in Wisconsin is $389.
On the web
winnebagocatcharide.com
valleytransit.com
ecwrpc.com
foxvalleywork.org
bayareawdb.org
