Quick Take
The Green Raiteros program coordinates free rides in zero-emission vehicles for farmworkers to get to medical appointments by providing local communities with vehicles and drivers to operate them. The service is set to expand to Pajaro Valley later this month.
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A new rideshare program is launching in the Pajaro Valley later this month that aims to help farmworkers and other low-income residents without a means of transportation get to medical appointments.
For fast-food worker Jason Brannon, 42, making it to health care appointments is hard. Due to chronic pain from nerve damage, he needs to travel from his home in Hollister to Monterey multiple times a week to see medical specialists. But without a car, he’s forced to rely on rideshare applications that he has found are often unreliable — drivers regularly cancel or show up late.
“I Uber a lot, and I get there,” he said, “but I need to deal with a lot of stress.”
That was until he learned about a rideshare service called Green Raiteros. The initiative, which first launched in the Central Valley, seeks to address the challenges faced by low-income workers like Brannon by providing free rides to medical appointments in electric vehicles.
Launched by the Latino Equity, Advocacy and Policy (LEAP) Institute, a California organization focused on promoting economic and environmental justice in rural communities, the rideshare service has expanded to several counties, including Monterey, with service extending into south Santa Cruz County.
The program coordinates free rides in zero-emission vehicles for farmworkers by providing local communities with vehicles and drivers to operate them. The rideshare service is set to expand later this month to the Pajaro Valley with a fleet of four Teslas, two wheelchair-accessible vans and a mixed team of volunteer and paid drivers.
After switching from paid rideshare apps to Green Raiteros, Brannon said the experience was immediately better: Drivers were on time, caring, and considerate. “Knowing I have better, comfortable, reliable transportation cuts my anxiety a lot,” said Brannon, who uses the service weekly.
Many of the area’s farmworkers lack the economic means to afford cars, so they’re left relying on rideshare apps daily to make it to work, said Ana María Núñez Valdéz, a community health worker in the Pajaro Valley who also drives for the program. The same farmworkers who are exposed to significant health risks, like extreme heat and pesticides, also face some of the greatest challenges in getting adequate health care.
“The issue is that rural communities that are linguistically and geographically isolated are always left behind,” said LEAP Institute CEO Rey León.
The name Raiteros comes from the Spanglish raite, or ride. León launched the program in 2018 after seeing how Latino communities in his hometown of Huron, a small city in rural Fresno County, struggled under the economic pressures of owning a car.
“The question is how do we develop infrastructure in California to not impose the need for a family to have to own a pollution vehicle that is a poverty perpetuator,” Leon said.
The program started in Huron, population 6,000, and grew large enough to attract the attention of the Los Angeles Times, which described that small city in the San Joaquin Valley as the “greenest farmworker community in the country.”
Since launching, Green Raitero has expanded to seven counties, with the Pajaro Valley being its latest addition. “Pajaro reminded me of Huron,” said León. “So I figured the Green Raiteros program would be helpful for the farmworker families in and around Pajaro.”
For the town, the program is critical for bringing mobility to communities often left behind, those involved with the program say. “Pajaro is so vulnerable,” Núñez Valdéz said.
Drivers for the program receive training in first aid and CPR to be able to better care for patients who ride with them. They’re also taught to help riders to and from the cars.
In addition to servicing farmworkers, the program works with Modivcare, a non-emergency medical transportation company, to provide medical rideshare services at no cost to any low-income patient in need. The collaboration allows the program to operate in surrounding towns like Hollister, which is where Brannon found the service.
The local initiative is supported by a $1.8 million grant from the state’s Clean Mobility Options program. León expects the grant to fund the Pajaro program for at least the next three years.
For León, it’s just the beginning of what he hopes will be a larger effort to develop climate-resilient infrastructure and accessible clean transportation across California. “It’s become evident that we need some state policies to support these programs that effectively reduce the need for people to own a car,” he said, stressing the importance of working with other similar programs across the state.
To sign up for the program, members of the community can call 844-851-7433 or visit the LEAP Institute website. The program is also holding a formal launch on Oct. 24 at 100 Salinas Rd. in Pajaro, where visitors can get to know the fleet and the team operating it.
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