UKIAH (California) DAILY JOURNAL

August 7, 2009

MTA launches Farmworkers Transportation Program

A grant-funded position and a new staff vehicle are part of a new Mendocino Transit Authority program to offer transportation specifically to farmworkers.

"We are calling our program the Mendocino Farmworkers Transportation Program," Glenna Blake of MTA said. When the program is complete, MTA plans for it to include five 14-seat passenger vans, Blake stated.

MTA bought a Ford Escape hybrid vehicle from Ukiah Ford last month. The new vehicle was paid for with money from a California State Farm Laborer Transportation Grant and will be used as a staff car for a new position named the Mobility Management Coordinator.

The farmworkers program aims to coordinate van pools for farmworkers commuting to and from their jobs, MTA stated. The vehicle will be farmworker driven and can be used to run errands to or from work. Passengers will pay a fare.

MTA states that the new Mobility Management Coordinator will also work to implement the recommendations of a federal planning grant to develop a commute service plan for inland Mendocino County.

MTA's farmworker transportation program comes from the San Joaquin Valley, where a $20 million grant program was started with Caltrans for farmworker transportation, of which MTA received $310,000.

"With that we have bought a hybrid SUV from Ukiah Ford," Blake said.

On May 28, 2009, MTA's Board of Directors unanimously approved a change in policy to make vehicle purchases be hybrids as soon as possible with a final goal of electric power for vehicles that can run only on batteries, MTA stated.

A hybrid bus costs about $190,000 compared to $550,000 to $600,000 for a diesel hybrid 35- to 45-foot-long coach.

In the current fiscal year, MTA says it will buy a hybrid 14-passenger, wheelchair equipped van paid for by Mendocino Air Quality and a Federal Transit Administration's Job Access Reverse Commute grant, MTA stated.

MTA cites several factors for its consideration of future purchases. Because of Air Resource Board restrictions and passenger loads, MTA decided to not buy large diesel hybrid coaches, but instead to buy hybrid buses.

The buses will look like a 28- to 32-passenger medium-duty, low-floor diesel hybrid bus with a front-entry wheelchair ramp, MTA stated.