Coachella City Council has approved the purchase of 17 Tesla Model Y vehicles to be used for a community rideshare service in California. The decision, made in a recent city council meeting, is part of a new agreement with the Latino Equity Advocacy Policy Institute (LEAP).
The city council authorized the city manager to sign a master lease equity agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management Inc. for the purchase of the Tesla vehicles. Each vehicle will cost $60,530, bringing the total cost to $1,029,010. The city will use funds from the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program grant for the purchase.
The rideshare program, managed by LEAP, aims to provide transportation for a variety of community needs, including employment commutes, school transportation, and doctor visits. “Our intent is to make it available for migrant farmworkers, folks that work in the hospitality industry, folks that need to go to college, medical visits,” said Mayor Steven Hernandez.
The service is set to operate seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting in 2024. It will be accessible via an on-demand app. Each Tesla vehicle has a passenger capacity of seven riders.
However, concerns were raised about the infrastructure to support the new fleet of electric vehicles, with the city currently having only two charging stations. Maritza Martinez, Coachella’s public works director, assured the council that the city is in talks with Tesla to add more charging stations at no additional cost.
The city will use Enterprise Fleet Management in its purchase of the Tesla Model Y fleet.
LEAP Institute will assign a program manager to serve as the city’s primary point of contact for the rideshare program. The Program Manager will appoint a team to handle operations, dispatch, driver onboarding, driver management, fleet maintenance, marketing, and data analytics.
