SOUTH BEND — Taneka Jones’ story probably could be repeated hundreds of times across the city.

The lack of dependable transportation — or no vehicle at all — makes it difficult for some people to consistently get to work on time or forces them to turn down work opportunities when public transit options aren’t available.

For Jones, it’s a bad brake line on her old car that would have made it nearly impossible to make some of her shifts parking cars at the Morris Inn at Notre Dame.

After all, public transportation doesn’t help when a shift starts at 10 p.m. or ends at 3 a.m. It also doesn’t help when work is available late Saturday or throughout the day on Sunday when buses aren’t even running.

For Jones and dozens of others at Notre Dame, a new service called Commuters Trust has meant the difference between being able to get to work on time — despite having transportation challenges — and taking shifts that she’d otherwise have to turn down.

About 125 people at Notre Dame have signed onto the program, which gives participants a free pass on Transpo as well as rides with the ride-sharing company Lyft, thanks to a $1 million, three-year grant through the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge.

The city conducted a free pilot last year with Notre Dame, Memorial Hospital and South Bend’s Venues Parks & Arts department and expanded it further this year with those same employers and employees making financial contributions.

“This grant from Bloomberg provides South Bend a unique opportunity to test and develop innovative solutions to help employees get to work,” Mayor Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “Cities across the U.S. are trying to figure out how to leverage innovation in mobility to solve transportation issues.”

And what is learned through the program in South Bend could be imitated in other low-density and car-dependent cities, Buttiegieg added.

At Notre Dame, the program involves employees at the Morris Inn, South Dining Hall, North Dining Hall and temporary services who often are called upon to work shifts at odd hours of the day.

“As a full-service hotel, we’re operating 24/7,” said Kathy Seymour, who is room manager at the Morris Inn and responsible for staffing the front desk and valet services. “Transportation can be a key problem in food, beverage and housekeeping.”

The program benefits employers who are sometimes struggling to fill shifts, especially when the unemployment rate is the lowest in 50 years. But it also benefits employees who can take more shifts and develop a strong work record.

Seymour utilized the service herself when one of her family’s two cars unexpectedly went down. At Notre Dame, managers have been encouraged to try the service so they can better explain how it works to their employees, said Jessica Brookshire, associate director for public affairs.

“Studies have found that child care and transportation are two of the top barriers to employment,” said Aaron Steiner, director of the Commuters Trust program. After an initial test run last year with Uber, the program got rebooted in September utilizing Lyft, which will collect data on when the service is being utilized and whether users might be clustered in certain areas.

That information could be used to look at additional transportation solutions involving car pooling, Transpo, shuttle buses and ride-sharing businesses like Uber and Lyft, Steiner explained.

“This is our first foray into collecting transportation data,” said Brookshire, adding that Notre Dame had 40 active users of the ride-sharing service in September and they used the service for 230 rides.

Steiner said the program is now seeking additional South Bend employers who believe that Commuters Trust could provide a benefit to their businesses as well as employees by providing backup transportation.

The current program requires contributions from both employers and employees as the ultimate goal is to make it into something that is “replicable and self sustaining in the future,” said Steiner. “Transportation has been a problem for a long time and it still hasn’t been solved.”

Steiner suggestes that any movement to address the problem is a step in the right direction for businesses that are struggling to find employees and people who are trying to establish a positive work record.

Consistency in getting to work has helped Jones rise from an on-call to part-time status, meaning she now receives paid vacation, sick time, the opportunity to take some classes and use of Notre Dame’s facilities.

It’s the same route that Seymour, the room manager at the Morris Inn, followed many years ago when she initially joined the staff.

“I’d like to see this program continue,” Seymour said. “It’s a benefit for employers and employees.”

Jones, who has an associate degree, agreed with that assessment.

“I hope,” she said, “to go further here.”