How an Eco-Friendly Rideshare Is Changing Life in a Tiny Rural Town

Residents of a California farm community have come up with a model solution for an all-too-common transportation problem.

Cantua Creek is a tiny unincorporated community in rural California, some 45 miles from the city of Fresno. It’s surrounded by open space and farmland; there are no doctors or grocery stores, no large retail shops or lawyer’s offices.

Of its 466 occupants, 461 identify as Hispanic or Latino, and most of them work in the nearby fields as pickers or doing other agricultural work. Many don’t have daily access to a car, making simple trips to the grocery store or a doctor’s appointment punishingly complicated.

“This is the life we lead, this is what it is to live in the countryside,” says Julia, a resident of Cantua Creek who speaks only Spanish and asked to be identified by first name only. “It’s at least 20 minutes to get to the store, and it never has everything you need. I travel 35 minutes to get to the doctor. It’s an hour to the nearest city.”

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