MARATHON — As more employers report difficulties in finding qualified employees — in CenterState CEO’s economic forecast for 2018, members said it was getting harder to find skilled workers — some are turning to public transit for help.

Square Deal Machining Inc. (SDMI), on Route 11 in Marathon, has been growing, adding equipment and employees. Looking for help with the latter, it reached out to Cortland Transit.

Cortland Transit agreed to alter its bus route 5, which operates twice a day each morning and again in the afternoon. It will now run past the four corners in Marathon up to SDMI’s facility on Route 11.

The extra distance is only a mile or so, says Stephen Donnelly, a spokesperson for SDMI. But it makes it more convenient for workers. Buses will stop at one or both of SDMI’s buildings, he notes.

“Living in a rural area, many employees rely on Cortland Transit to get to work each day,” Joe Morgan, CEO of Square Deal, said in a release. “The Cortland Transit system has helped us recruit talented workers from all over the county, and we believe this partnership will allow more hardworking individuals to find quality professional opportunities at SDMI.” 

Altering a bus route isn’t as simple as putting up a new bus stop sign, officials say. In fact, it can be quite complicated.

Richard Lee, CEO of Centro, which serves four counties in Central New York, explains that routes are timed so riders can make transfers from one route to another. To do that, bus schedules have to be coordinated to avoid leaving riders to wait for their next connection.

In addition, Centro buses travel out and back, Lee says, always returning to a transit hub. Extending a route for one stop means expanding the trip for all subsequent stops.

Getting people to work is a large part of what Centro does. Lee says 77 percent of Centro’s ridership — some 11 million people a year — consists of workers going to or from their jobs. He says in his tenure, the organization’s has been “focused on what we can do to help individuals get to and from work.”

So, for instance, last year a bus route in Baldwinsville was altered to reach the Tops Market for shoppers as well as for people who use the bus to commute to work at Tops.

Centro also added Township Five shopping center in Camillus to an existing route when several employees of the Costco Wholesale store located there made a request.

Steven Koegel, Centro’s VP of communications and business planning, says his organization welcomes inquiries from businesses. He adds that as businesses consider new facilities or simply moving to a new location, they would do well to check with Centro, or whatever service provides mass transit in their community, to see if the site is on a route or could be added.

While altering a route can be complicated, adding one can be costly, Lee says. Along with the cost of a driver and fuel to travel the route, he points out that there are increased costs for mechanics and, of course, the cost of a new bus. Today’s buses cost about $535,000 each, he says.

The economics involved are complicated as well. Currently, riders’ fares cover just 23 percent of the cost of Centro’s operations. Advertising revenue covers about 7 percent and the remaining 70 percent is covered by federal, state and local subsidies. “We don’t have any control over that,” Lee says.

One alternative is for an employer or group of employers to subsidize a route, something Centro is discussing right now with some businesses.

Looking to the future, Lee says Centro is already planning for rising demand if and when work begins on Interstate 81 in downtown Syracuse. The work is expected to impact travel for years, depending on which plan is implemented. 

“That’s going to be a whole ‘nother thing,” he quips.

PULASKI — Fastrac Markets, an upstate New York chain of gas station/convenience stores, has opened a new store in the village of Pulaski.

Fastrac last fall acquired the property at 3821 Rome Road, which was formerly home to a Nice N Easy store, Jim Allen, Fastrac’s VP of marketing, tells CNYBJ in an email. The firm demolished the structure and built a new 4,500-square-foot convenience store offering eight fueling stations, and indoor and outdoor seating. It opened on June 29.

“Rather than remodel, we thought it was smarter just to take a bulldozer to the building and build a brand new store,” says Allen. 

He declined to provide the total cost for opening the new Fastrac store, including construction and property acquisition costs. The property is assessed at $295,000 and has a full market value of $339,000, according to Oswego County online property records.

Construction took about six months and included the winter months. Allen wouldn’t name the companies that handled the demolition and construction work.

“[We] felt that Pulaski was a nice small- town area that met our criteria for expansion and that Fastrac would be a great addition in serving that community,” Allen says when asked why Fastrac chose to open a store in Pulaski.

 Located off Interstate 81, the new store employs 13 full-time and two part-time workers.

The convenience store offers a dining menu including pizza, smoothies, and sandwiches, among other items. The gas station includes four diesel pumps and ethanol-free 90 octane fuels for local boating and snowmobiling enthusiasts.

Fastrac, headquartered in the town of DeWitt, is a 20-year-old chain with 53 locations across upstate New York — including the Adirondacks, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Central New York, and Western New York. The company employs more than 450 people total.