High Concrete Group and Four Seasons Produce are large employers in northern Lancaster County that have trouble recruiting entry-level workers for late-night and early-morning shifts.

About 20 miles to the south, meanwhile, are Lancaster city residents who might be interested in working for one of the companies.

But there’s a problem matching job openings with job candidates. Many city residents don’t have a car or even a driver’s license. And the Ephrata bus route ends miles short of both workplaces.

It’s a long-standing transportation gap with a possible solution in sight.

Since March 4, both companies and the state transportation department have been subsidizing a van to shuttle workers from five stops in the city to the front door of each workplace.

Riders pay $10 a week, and the companies chip in $64 a month per rider.

It’s an experiment that so far is being used by only five workers. But with word spreading, city residents have started to apply. The companies hope to eventually fill two, 15-passenger Red Rose Access vans running day-long schedules.

Pisani “Not only does it save me over $150 per month in gas, it puts so much less wear and tear on my car."

To help the companies meet the cost of about $20,000 a month while they recruit workers, the state transportation department is providing one-time funding of $100,000 and High Foundation has committed $20,000.

High Concrete and Four Seasons say they are committed to keeping the vans running for at least six months to see if a recruitment push results in at least 122 riders, enough to make the shuttle sustainable.

“We have living-wage positions available,” said J. Seroky, president of High Concrete Group, which makes pre-cast pieces for parking garages and other structures. “If they are unemployed or under-employed, we’ll be able to bring them to an area where we have good jobs.”

Shifts align

The shifts at High Concrete and Four Seasons align closely enough that after a van drops off workers at one workplace, it can go directly to the other to pick up workers for the return trip to Lancaster.

For example, the schedule has a van picking up High Concrete workers at five locations in Lancaster, starting at 1:45 a.m. The van gets the workers to High Concrete by 2:40 a.m. The van then picks up workers at Four Seasons at 3 a.m. and starts dropping them off in Lancaster by 3:40 a.m.

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The plan is to have multiple round trips throughout the weekday with less frequent trips on the weekend.

“If they’re having as much trouble as they say they are hiring people, it should work,” said David Kilmer, South Central Transit Authority executive director, who oversees the van program. “We’re hoping other employers will consider using it, too. We virtually go by them anyway.”

Kilmer said a bus route to the Denver area was discontinued years ago because of low ridership.

Bob Pisani, a Four Seasons Produce worker, has made riding the van his daily routine.

“Not only does it save me over $150 per month in gas,” he said, “it puts so much less wear and tear on my car. The bigger benefit though is the stress-free commute.”

Commuter Services of Pennsylvania will reimburse van riders for taxi and Uber trips, up to six times a year, for occasions when they need to leave work when a van is not available.

Chamber initiative

The job shuttle grew out of conversations the Lancaster Chamber initiated in 2017 involving about 18 employers in northern Lancaster County, said Heather Valudes, the Chamber’s community impact director. High Concrete and Four Seasons agreed to commit resources to test the concept.

“We do think it’s a good way for the business community to ... provide an opportunity for folks in the city who are trying to get to a livable-wage job,” said Nelson Longenecker, vice president of business innovation at Four Seasons. “We feel it’s consistent with the kind of culture and community impact we want to have.”

Kilmer “If they’re having as much trouble as they say they are hiring people, it should work."

Valudes said if the job shuttle works, it could be a model for other far-flung employers needing workers.

“This is a pilot,” Valudes said. “We want to learn what works well. If we start seeing full ridership at certain times of the day, RRTA could consider running a bus.”

At a news conference Friday announcing the job van, Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace said she thinks the shuttle could help reduce the city’s 26.5-percent poverty rate, which is more than double the countywide rate.

“This isn’t just connecting Lancaster city residents to a job,” she said. “It’s connecting Lancaster city residents to two very important companies in our community that have a lot of bandwidth to support the development of that individual.”