Small Central Valley Town Sets Big Example for Electric Vehicle Use

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ridesharing has long been a part of farmworker communities, before companies like Uber and Lyft came along. So when faced with a lack of transportation options in his small town of Huron in the Central Valley, Mayor Rey Leon took inspiration from farmworkers to launch the Green Raiteros -- a ridesharing program that provides free transportation to residents using a fleet of all electric vehicles. Most community members use the service for necessary medical appointments that are miles away. In addition to filling a community need, LA Times reporter Evan Halper – who covered Leon and Green Raiteros in a recent story – says the program "has put Huron on the map as perhaps the greenest migrant farmworker community in the country." Leon and Halper join us to talk about the program and the example it sets for greater state and federal efforts to go electric. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Key QBD Podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport. At SFO, you can shop,
0:06.7	dine, and unwind before your flight. Go ahead, treat yourself. Learn more about SFO restaurants and
0:12.7	shops at flysfo.com. Support for forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:23.1	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:29.6	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:35.3	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion.
0:43.3	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
0:51.7	Tickets on sale now at Broadwaysf.com.
0:57.0	From KQED.
0:59.1	Welcome back to Forum. I'm Nina Kim.
1:02.1	California and the Biden administration are looking to make access to electric vehicles
1:06.7	and green transportation more equitable.
1:09.9	LA Times reporter Evan Halper says they can look no further
1:13.0	than Huron, a small Central Valley City
1:16.5	with a program that just might make it
1:18.4	the greenest migrant farmer community in the country.
1:22.0	And joining me now is LA Times national reporter, L.A.
1:26.4	Evan Halper.
1:28.8	Thanks so much for joining us, Evan.
1:30.8	Hey, Mina, good morning.
1:35.3	So tell us a little bit about Huron for those of us who haven't been there before.
1:42.3	So this is kind of an isolated community in the Central Valley with a population of about 7,000 people.
	...

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