New LA electric car sharing program for disadvantaged communities; Bolloré BlueLA
11 June 2017
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti launched the BlueLA Electric Car Sharing Program alongside California State Senate Leader Kevin de León, Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, the California Air Resources Board, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and representatives from Blue Solutions—a division of the Bolloré Group—which has invested more than $10 million to bring its EV car share program to Los Angeles.
The program is funded in part by a $1.7-million grant through California Climate Investments (CCI), a statewide program designed to spend billions of cap-and-trade dollars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen the economy, and improve public health—particularly in disadvantaged communities.
The launch marked the opening of BlueLA’s first demonstration station near the corner of 7th and Bonnie Brae streets in Pico Union. BlueLA—the nation’s largest EV car sharing program for disadvantaged communities—aims to meet Angelenos’ evolving mobility needs in a sustainable way, while bringing more transportation options to low-income communities.
The pilot program advances several of the goals outlined in Mayor Garcetti’s Sustainable City pLAn, and will serve portions of Westlake, Pico Union, Koreatown, Echo Park, and Downtown Los Angeles.
The BlueLA EV car share program puts California’s cap and trade dollars to work to not only help meet the Paris Climate Agreement goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and advance the EV goals in my Sustainable City pLAn, it brings new transportation options to neighborhoods that need them.
—Mayor Garcetti
In 2015, Los Angeles won a CCI grant to pilot electric vehicle car sharing in low-income communities. Blue Solutions’ subsidiary, BlueLA Carsharing is working with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) to bring the program online this year. Implementation and outreach efforts are supported by the Shared Use Mobility Center (SUMC) and a committee of local community organizations, including the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund, T.R.U.S.T. South LA, and Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance.
Los Angeles, as the United States’ second largest city, is a wonderful showcase for our car sharing service and we aim to support the City’s environmental leadership with a commitment to affordability and equal access, allowing electric mobility to reach underserved communities. BlueLA is an exciting new challenge for the Bolloré Group and also an opportunity to demonstrate the reliability of our unique LMP battery, a pioneering Bolloré technology powering our car sharing vehicles around the world.
—Marie Bolloré, General Director of Blue Solutions Electric Mobility
Until the full service is available for public use later in the year, the Pico Union station will be used for community outreach, drive and ride events, and efforts to raise awareness about electric vehicles. Ultimately, the service will bring 100 electric cars and 200 chargers to self-service stations across the city, available to anyone 18 years or older with a valid driver’s license.
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