Green Raiteros volunteer transportation organization, Huron, California, 2018

Although it had been operating informally for decades, Huron, California’s volunteer on-demand ridesharing program was formally launched in the fall of 2018, dubbing itself the Green Raiteros. Using funds from a legal settlement and a grant from the Schmidt Family Foundation, the local non-profit – the Latino Environmental Advancement & Policy Institute (LEAP) Institute – purchased two electric cars that its volunteer drivers can use to take passengers to their requested destinations, going as far as Fresno (nearly 50 miles away). The program serves a predominantly Latino farming community in the San Joaquin Valley that has limited access to other forms of transportation. EVgo, a Los Angeles-based network of charging stations for electric vehicles, has supported the program by installing charging stations in both Huron and Fresno.

Updated July 2019