Through California Climate Investments the City of Chula Vista received close to $1 million through the Clean Mobility Voucher Pilot Program to launch an on-demand community shuttle service in the northwest region of the city.
This project will help people living in Chula Vista like eighty-nine-year-old Fred and his wife, Jackie. Fred has dementia and Jackie has neuropathy. The thought of getting into a car and driving somewhere in town is just not possible. “Simply a matter of getting from point A to point B with dementia, you can’t get out and drive. You don’t have a license,” says Fred.
The City of Chula Vista has a solution for Fred and many other community members in similar situations who cannot physically drive or cannot afford to drive. This service focuses on the local senior community using four zero-emission vehicles, one of which will be American Disabilities Act accessible. This funding will help make mobility for community seniors easier, smarter, safer, more affordable, and focus on trips to and from healthcare, grocery, senior living facilities, retail, social and other locations identified as important to the community.
“The Chula Vista Community Shuttle Program is a door-to-door free shuttle service that’s all electric that services seniors in our community, fifty-five and older and essentially takes them anywhere they want to go,” says Dennis Gakunga, chief sustainability officer of the City of Chula Vista.
Jill Galvez, Chula Vista council member district two, spearheaded the project after identifying a lack of affordable transportation options for older adults. She says the app is easy to use and “this is a solution that will pick folks up from their door and take them anywhere they’d like to go in Northwest Chula Vista.”
Fred says he will need help installing the app on his phone, but help is available for that. City officials have already helped over two hundred residents install the app on their phones. Fred thanked the city by saying, “this program is a God-send for a lot of individuals.”