Shared EVs and Chargers, Bikes and E-bikes, Lyft
Credits, Real-Time Transit Info
SAN
FRANCISCO, May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Residents of
the Betty Ann Gardens Apartments in San
Jose's Berryessa district today celebrated the opening of a
new mobility hub developed through a partnership between the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Oakland-based nonprofit TransForm to expand
mobility options and lower transportation costs for lower-income
renters, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage walking,
bicycling and transit use. The hub includes electric vehicles and
chargers that can be shared by community residents; e-bikes,
folding bicycles and secure bike parking; and a monitor with
real-time arrival information for nearby transit services.
Residents also receive credits for Lyft rides to essential services
such as grocery stores and medical care.
The opening of the San Jose
mobility hub marks the third such facility developed by MTC and
TransForm through the Commission's EV Car Sharing and Mobility Hubs
in Affordable Housing pilot program. Funding for each of the hubs
was delivered through a $3 million
Clean Mobility Options grant from the California Air Resources
Board (CARB) as part of its California Climate Investments
initiative, which puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, fostering economic development
and promoting public health — particularly in disadvantaged
communities — statewide.
"Mobility hubs make zero-emissions technology available, so no
one is left behind in a clean air future," said California Air
Resources Board Member Davina Hurt, who also serves as Chair of the
Bay Area Air Quality Management District. "By supporting innovative
projects like this and making it easier for community members to
access everyday needs, CARB is underscoring its commitment to
equity, expanding access to zero-emissions transportation, and
reducing key sources of pollution."
The 76-unit Betty Ann Gardens is owned and managed by First
Community Housing, a San
Jose-based nonprofit formed to develop and manage affordable
housing properties in the Bay Area and adjacent counties. In
addition to Lyft's support for the essential rides program, other
partners in the Betty Ann Gardens mobility hub include the
City of San Jose; Culver City, Calif.-based Envoy Technologies,
which provided two electric carshare vehicles for residents' use;
San Jose-based Sungenix Energy
Solutions and Ontario,
Calif.-based KIGT, who teamed to install a pair of EV
chargers; Washington, D.C.-based
Actionfigure, which provided the electronic information display
showing arrival times for nearby buses, light rail and BART trains;
and San Jose-based Community
Cycles of California, which hosted
bike repair workshops and assembled the bikes to be distributed at
Betty Ann Gardens. First Community Housing provides VTA ECO passes
free of charge to all residents in its Santa Clara County properties.
"Mobility hubs can provide upward economic mobility for our
working families so they can get where they need to go in a climate
friendly way," said San Jose Mayor
and MTC Commissioner Matt Mahan.
"Thank you to our partners at the state and the MTC staff — we're
going to need more innovative, equitable climate programs like this
to meet our city's 2030 goal of net-neutrality."
MTC and TransForm previously opened mobility hubs at the
567-unit Lion Creek Crossings in East
Oakland and in Richmond's
Nystrom neighborhood, which includes more than 4,000 households.
While the design of each hub is tailored to the needs of
lower-income residents in each community, common goals at each
location are to increase residents' access to jobs, schools, parks,
medical facilities and grocery stores; and to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases and other pollutants through a combination of
electric vehicle use and a reduction in overall vehicle trips.
"Establishing mobility hubs at affordable housing communities is
a smart way to promote equity and tackle the climate change
challenge at the same time," observed Santa Clara County Supervisor and MTC
Commissioner Cindy Chavez.
MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating
agency for the nine-county San Francisco
Bay Area. CARB's mission is to promote and protect public
health, welfare and ecological resources through effective
reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering
effects on the economy. CARB is the lead agency for climate change
programs and oversees all air pollution control efforts in
California to attain and maintain
health-based air quality standards.
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SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission