The Green Raiteros bring rides to a transportation desert

January 17, 2022 7:31 AM

This Central Valley outpost is one of the most fertile places on Earth, attracting thousands of seasonal laborers to harvest lettuce and reaping windfalls for big agribusiness. But for most of Rey León’s life, the city of Huron has been a transportation desert. ... now, as the Biden administration builds its multibillion-dollar blueprint for confronting deep inequities in the transition to green transportation, one of the few places it has to look for inspiration is Huron. Evan Halper reports for the LA Times on an innovative electric car ride-sharing initiative in a neglected Central Valley town.

León’s program is driving Huron, population 6,206, toward having as many public charging stations per capita as anywhere in America. There are already 30 ports in town. It is a notable distinction when environmental justice groups are otherwise exasperated by the concentration of electric vehicle infrastructure in the wealthiest ZIP Codes. California officials warn that the state’s climate goals won’t be reached unless zero-emission technology rapidly spreads into lower-income communities. ...

“Raiteros precede Uber by decades,” León said. “If raiteros would have had the social media and technology skills, then it would have been raiteros not Uber” that brought ride sharing into the mainstream.

posted by Bella Donna (7 comments total)

San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, with funding from the state cap & trade carbon credit program, apparently has tons of money for incentive programs that cut valley air pollution -- e.g. they send BEV buyers a $3000 check for each new vehicle put in service in their district (knocking the cost to buy my 40kWh 2018 Leaf down to ~$15,000 LOL).

Huron itself is just a wide spot on the road to Coalinga, or Avenal I guess. On the map it looks more like an isolated moon base than a city, something not all that common in crowded California.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 8:15 AM on January 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

Is there a non-paywall link? I'd like to read this article.
posted by Toddles at 8:34 AM on January 17, 2022

My apologies, I did not realize it was a pay wall link. This one might work, but I cannot be sure.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:09 AM on January 17, 2022

This sounds good. Having to schedule a ride days in advance suggests it won't be able to solve many transportation needs, but it sure can't hurt.

I wish there was an easy way to use state incentives to encourage minibusses. Or even just to remove some of the disincentives that exist now.
posted by eotvos at 12:11 PM on January 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

"Huron itself is just a wide spot on the road to Coalinga, or Avenal I guess. On the map it looks more like an isolated moon base than a city, something not all that common in crowded California."

I wouldn't say such small towns are uncommon in CA. There are many such towns spread through the Central Valley, and the inland North. Many of them are chronically underserved in terms of clean water, food (cruel considering being in agricultural centers), healthcare, and educational services. A lot of these towns are shrinking as young people leave to seek out opportunities elsewhere. Rude to call them "moon bases". People live there, and they have culture too.
posted by dantheclamman at 1:17 PM on January 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

unpaywalled link through archive.is, which may not work as well I'm told unless you're using chrome
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 1:18 PM on January 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have to say, Hwy. 198 out of Coalinga, going West to San Lucas, is one of the most beautiful drives anywhere. And Coalinga got its name from a railroad which had coaling stops A-E, and Coaling-A, became Coalinga. A woman in Utah told me about this, she lived in a boxcar her 14th year, in Coalinga the year of the big earthquake, when draining the oil layer caused a huge collapse. Would have been around 1944. There were 300 some odd earth quakes in the last year. Lots of pistachios grown in that area. There is a whole hell of a lot of sun there, and endless golden grass.
posted by Oyéah at 1:43 PM on January 17, 2022 [5 favorites]