San Benito County Council of Government directors recently voted
to move forward with a pilot program that will make it easier for
employees of Earthbound Farm to get to work safely, while
decreasing pollution and traffic congestion on county roads.
Hollister – San Benito County Council of Government directors recently voted to move forward with a pilot program that will make it easier for employees of Earthbound Farm to get to work safely, while decreasing pollution and traffic congestion on county roads.
The program, which was approved by the COG board last week, will increase the hours of county bus service between Hollister and Earthbound Farm, located in San Juan Bautista, with the intent of getting Earthbound employees to take the bus to and from work rather than drive themselves or depend on a co-worker with a car, according to COG Traffic Planner Veronica Lezama.
“We’re happy that the local transportation agency is working with us to make this happen,” said Julie Morris, spokesperson for Earthbound Farm.
The bulk of the cost of the estimated $3,168 program will be covered by Earthbound, which will purchase 40 monthly bus passes for the route and distribute them to employees who reside in San Benito County and want to participate in the program, according to COG staff. COG is still working to determine where the bus stops will be, Lezama said.
The program, which will begin in early April with a 45-day trial run and cost COG about $280 per month, will be targeted toward Earthbound employees, but the general public will also be able to take advantage of the increased service, Lezama said. Non-Earthbound employees, however, will have to pay the $1.75 bus fare, she added.
Morris said that Earthbound wanted to develop the program for a variety of reasons, ranging from reducing the amount of car exhaust fumes that are spewed into the air to reducing the number of cars that need to park at the facility.
“The main reasons Earthbound Farm decided to go this route was to lessen the cost of transportation for our employees and take more cars off of the road,” she said.
During its peak season – from March to November – Earthbound employs about 800 people, many of whom live in San Benito County, Morris said. If the program proves popular with employees, Morris said she hopes that COG will add more busses to the route to accommodate more employees.
“The idea is, if this is a success and employees are using it, there will be more vehicles,” she said.
Morris said that Earthbound has not yet determined how it will choose which employees are permitted to participate in the pilot program.
Supervisor Anthony Botelho, who also sits on the COG board, said that the program is a good way to increase ridership for the county’s little-used bus system while providing a service for those who work for one of the county’s largest employers.
“I hope employees at Earthbound take advantage of the service,” he said. “We do have a public transportation system looking for ridership. This may be the way to go. It’s a matter of trying to use our transit money more efficiently.”
Recently, the COG board approved a proposal to eliminate a bus route that runs from Nash Road and Westside Boulevard to Hazel Hawkins Hospital, and another route that runs from Hollister to the Greyhound station in Gilroy. Weekend Dial-a-Ride services will also be reduced. The services were eliminated because they were under-used, according to COG.
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at
lr****@fr***********.com
