The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Oakland-based nonprofit TransForm opened a new mobility hub for residents living in the Betty Ann Gardens Apartments in San Jose, Calif. The mobility hub will help 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 MTC'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 CARB 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
- 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 Bay Area Rapid Transit trains
- 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 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 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, Calif., and in Richmond Calif.’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,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor and MTC Commissioner Cindy Chavez.
