CT: This area had jobs but no way for workers to reach it. CT Transit stepped in to help

When 20-year-old Julissa Serrano was looking for work as an entry-level machinist this fall, her job search got a boost from an unlikely source: CT Transit.

Living in Meriden with no car, Serrano’s range appeared to be severely limited. It turned out that her timing was near-perfect, though, because the 511 bus route had just been launched a few months earlier.

“Without this, I’d have to try to get friends to drive me, or take Uber. But that’s over $10,” she said this week outside AVNA, the medical components company where she landed a job.

Instead of spending $50 to $100 a week, she commutes for under $4 a day. It was only after a few weeks on the job that she learned the New Britain-bound bus is at 5 a.m., giving her the chance to make an early start.

Located in Berlin’s Spruce Brook industrial park off the Berlin Turnpike, AVNA — along with its neighbors Comcast, Alside Supply, Alden Tool and Budney Aerospace — has been a tough place to reach for workers without cars.

Walking or biking would be a mix of inconvenience and danger: The Berlin Turnpike is one of the least pedestrian friendly thoroughfares in Connecticut. Berlin has limited public transportation and the traditional suburban emphasis on car-centric roads.

Chris Edge, the town’s economic development director, spotted the imbalance: A hub of available manufacturing jobs but no reliable way for workers to reach it. He spent more than two years coordinating a campaign with his counterparts in Meriden and New Britain to bring CT Transit commuter service to Spruce Brook.

Michelle Rosa, chief financial officer at AVNA, credited his work with making a big difference for local employers and job seekers alike.

“Since we moved here from New Britain in 2012, we struggled to get the workforce to come because there was no bus line,” Rosa said. “People from New Britain and even people from this community couldn’t get here. They said they could get to New Britain, but they couldn’t get here.”

Rosa said the 511 service has been a boost, and said there are new employees who’ve begun saving money to eventually buy cars.

“We have a lot of entry-level people and bring them into a career path, which we really pride ourselves on,” Rosa said this week at a gathering of local employers and social service agencies working to get the maximum value from the 511 line.

The bus runs from Meriden through Berlin into New Britain, and the route was designed to reach manufacturing and retail hubs like Webster Square and Spruce Brook. Service starts as early as 5 a.m. and goes past midnight to accommodate different work shifts; riders also use it to reach the Hartford Line and Amtrak trains that stop at the Meriden and Berlin stations along the 511 route.

The service started in March, and Brian McLaughlin, CT Transit’s senior planning director, reported that it is serving about 200 to 250 people a day.

“That’s better than we anticipated. Usually a route takes two years to get to that level of service” he said.

Meriden Economic Development Director Joseph Feest predicted the route will be a benefit for tenants in the hundreds of new apartments that have been built in his city’s downtown.

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