Craven County CARTS to experiment with routes for workforce development

NEW BERN, Craven County — A CARTS temporary program may help those in Craven County commute to and from work.

Beginning on March 10, officials say CARTs will being experimental routes to see if permanent routes can be established to benefit employees in the area - particularly those who work at Craven County Industrial Park. Officials say this program is the first of many steps to help increase workforce development in the area.

"When it comes to workforce development, transportation has been identified as a major issue," explains Craven 100 Alliance Chairman Owen Andrews. "This unconventional approach is just one of many ways that Craven 100 Alliance and Craven County are collaborating to meet the needs of our employers."

To initiate the application process, employees are to contact their Human Resource managers, who will then provide CARTS with the employee’s information. Officials say they will use the location of the employee's residence and to determine if federal or state funding could offset the employee's fare. With matching funds from Craven 100 Alliance, CARTS has been awarded a grant from the N.C. Department of Transportation to support this program.

“After hearing about our employer’s needs for transportation, we were fortunate enough to have CARTS, a public transportation solution provider that typically only bigger communities have,” says Jack B. Veit, III, Craven County Manager.

CARTS officials will host a public meeting to discuss the new program on March 2 at 9 a.m. at the N.C. Cooperative Extention Craven County Center.

For more information, contact Kelly Walker at (252) 636-4917 or carts@cravencountync.gov or visit the CARTS website.