Ride Forward Monterey
Organization: Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG)
Funding Request: $500,000.00
Project Summary
Ride Forward Monterey is a feasibility and planning project led by the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG), with Ecology Action (EA) as technical lead, to advance community e-bike lending libraries across Monterey County’s most transportation-burdened communities. The vision is to deliver 2–4 implementation-ready plans for community e-bike lending libraries that expand affordable, safe mobility in priority communities and align with the recommendations of the county’s Zero Emission Shared Mobility Study (ZESMS). The project draws on more than a decade of regional mobility and Safe Routes to School planning, which documented clear community needs but never produced the implementation-ready project concepts required to actually launch e-bike libraries or expand repair and maintenance capacity.
This grant fills that gap. Its work spans three core efforts: screening 6–10 candidate sites and producing 2–4 site-specific feasibility packages covering operations, technology, staffing, governance, and budgets; designing an implementation-ready workforce development pathway for e-bike technicians in partnership with Hartnell College; and conducting a Mobility Hub Integration Analysis so the libraries complement existing regional transit plans. Throughout, resident leadership is central, with two compensated community partners serving as co-designers. By grant close, partners will have a tested engagement model, a workforce pathway plan, and implementation-ready packages that position communities to seek capital funding and launch equitable, community-run libraries.
Project Descriptions and Transportation Equity
The communities of Pajaro, Castroville, and the Salinas Valley face high transportation costs, long commutes, and unsafe walking and biking conditions. Most residents live near small city centers, yet limited transit frequency and first/last-mile gaps make everyday trips to school, healthcare, and retail unreliable and costly, and these inequities fall disproportionately on Latino and immigrant families, farmworkers, hospitality workers, and youth. The strain is compounded by an extreme housing crisis (Salinas was recently identified as the most expensive place to live in the nation on a cost-to-income basis) and by climate stressors, including repeated disasters and extreme heat. A telling 73% of county workers drive alone while only 9% carpool, despite strong cultural traditions of informal ride-sharing and “raitero” networks, reflecting inadequate transit coverage, high vehicle costs, and a lack of safe alternatives.
The project advances community e-bike lending libraries as a direct response, reducing travel costs, shortening trip times, and improving access to essential destinations while strengthening first/last-mile connections and reducing exposure to traffic pollution. Equity is built into the planning method itself. Through bilingual, culturally grounded engagement, including listening sessions, advisory roles, surveys, and hands-on demo and try-ride events, residents define site selection, fleet types, eligibility, pricing, hours, amenities, and safety practices. The project geography was selected using ZESMS equity screens, pollution and climate vulnerability data, and extensive prior engagement, deliberately centering those most affected: multi-job workers, Spanish-speaking households, youth, and car-dependent low-income residents. All engagement is delivered in Spanish and relevant Indigenous languages with ADA accommodations, and EA shares “What We Heard / What We’re Doing” summaries so residents can see how their input shapes the design.
Community Benefit
Priority populations gain reliable, low-cost mobility for work, school, healthcare, and daily needs, with community e-bike libraries significantly reducing transportation costs, cutting commute times, and expanding first/last-mile access where transit gaps deepen inequities. Hands-on try-rides, safety trainings, and culturally responsive demo days build confidence, increase understanding of clean transportation options, and normalize e-bike use for essential trips. Residents who are often excluded from transportation planning will directly shape site selection, policies, and operating procedures through an Advisory Group and hyper-local outreach.
The project also delivers durable, long-term capacity-building. The workforce development partnership with Hartnell College creates pathways into the regional bike and e-mobility sector, with training in bike maintenance and safety, informed by League-certified best practices, that addresses high regional rates of bicycle and pedestrian injuries while preparing underserved students, staff, and community members for skilled jobs. Taken together, by expanding clean mobility, reducing tailpipe pollution exposure, strengthening workforce pipelines, and embedding community governance, the project delivers economic, health, and transportation benefits across Monterey County’s disadvantaged neighborhoods, with 100% of benefits directed to residents of underserved communities.
Partnerships and Structure
The partnership pairs public-agency planning capacity with deep community trust and embeds equity through compensated roles, multilingual access, transparent documentation, and co-created governance, so that community partners and Advisory Group members review and shape deliverables at every stage. The roles are organized as follows:
AMBAG (Administrative Lead / Public Agency Partner): As the Metropolitan Planning Organization responsible for implementing the Sustainable Communities Strategy, AMBAG guides policy alignment, facilitates interagency coordination, and integrates the study with ongoing regional initiatives.
Ecology Action (Technical Lead): Brings decades of experience delivering clean-mobility programs across the Central Coast, with expertise in e-bike operations, active transportation planning, and multilingual outreach, leading site screening, feasibility modeling, and engagement.
TAMC, MST, and the County of Monterey (Advisory Partners): Ensure the project aligns with and advances existing regional transit, active transportation, and Mobility Hub planning so site and first/last-mile strategies complement upcoming capital investments.
Ventures (Compensated Community Partner): Leads key components of site selection and engagement, including convening bilingual Advisory Group meetings, assessing site readiness, recommending 2–4 viable locations, and advising on governance and safety.
Hartnell College (Workforce Development Advisor): Contributes expertise in curriculum design, short-form certificates, and CTE pathways, ensuring workforce planning reflects the needs of local students and regional employers.
A second trusted community partner leads hyper-local outreach in selected communities, and AMBAG and EA leverage the Monterey Bay Area Climate Justice Collaborative to broaden participation and maintain regional alignment. The structure is designed so that decision-making power genuinely rests with residents while technical and agency partners provide coordination and support.