Essential Wheels® is expanding!
Our first cohort of participants in the Essential Wheels® bike loaner program saved an average of 52% of their monthly commute costs and reduced over 20 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2025. Many live or work in Redwood City; a significant portion of our funding comes from a co-sponsorship with the City of Redwood City and sales tax dollars from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority. In addition, we have some unrestricted e-bikes in our fleet courtesy of a grant we received from Grace Lutheran Church in Palo Alto and Sand Hill Properties Company.
To date, our participants have used the e-bikes to commute between origin and destination points in San Francisco, San Mateo, San Carlos, Redwood City, Menlo Park, unincorporated San Mateo County North Fair Oaks, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, San Jose and Hollister. These essential workers are supporting our region through their critical work at five public school districts, community health clinics, a hospital, and nonprofits whose social services are lifelines for family care at all stages of life.
Today, we are excited to share with you that we are now collaborating with two longstanding neighborhood business associations to pilot the expansion of Essential Wheels® to serve the essential workforces at Contra Costa Centre Transit Village in Contra Contra County and Moffett Park in Santa Clara County!
Contra Costa Centre Association is the original gold standard setter of Transportation Management Associations. Formed in 1985 by 14 project owners to create the most unique live/work environment in Northern California, Contra Costa Centre Transit Village in Walnut Creek was created through the efforts of business owners, transit leaders, county officials and area residents. These stakeholders have an ongoing commitment to minimize the use of single-occupancy vehicles at the Transit Village. We are deeply honored to be collaborating with Contra Costa Centre Association to bring our Essential Wheels® program to essential workers who work at this regional job center, including healthcare workers.
Moffett Park Business Group is a membership-driven organization committed to strengthening the Moffett Park business community through advocacy, collaboration, and leadership. The organization addresses shared challenges in the Moffett Park area with a focus on infrastructure, energy reliability, transportation solutions, and strategic engagement with the city. Located in the northernmost portion of the City of Sunnyvale, the identified class A industrial area contains approximately 1,156 acres that include many startup, mid-size and Fortune 500 companies, along with an estimated 40,000 people who work in Moffett Park. We are deeply honored to be collaborating with Moffett Park Business Group to bring our program to essential workers who work at this regional job center including those at the Foothill College Sunnyvale Center which educates our region's future early childhood educators and EMT.
If you are an essential worker who goes to work at the Contra Costa Centre Transit Village or Moffett Park, please complete our Essential Wheels® Interest List to begin the program application process. For those who live or work in Redwood City, we have additional e-bikes that are soon to come online in our inventory. If you are an essential worker who is interested in the program but don't see a category that applies to your live or work location, you, too, are welcome to add your name to the list with the understanding that unrestricted vehicles in our inventory are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Manzanita Works is a Caltrain Regional Partner for 2026, connecting qualified essential workers to the local rail agency's Pass Forward program since the program's inception in 2021. If you are interested in participating in 2026, please fill out our Pass Forward Interest Survey and we can then connect you with the SamTrans survey the public agency administers for Caltrain. Once both are completed and riders are qualified and approved, we meet up to provide you with your card for use in 2026. Note: educators are ineligible for this program in 2026 unless they are a returning participant and are within the income thresholds.
Thanks to the support of individual donors in 2025, we launched our Essential Kicks™ program connecting essential workers to a pair of non-slip work shoes. In collaboration with service providers Footwear Etc. and KEEN, income qualified essential workers in healthcare, education, food service, family care and first responders have been selecting styles from the most recent batch of available shoes. With current supplies nearly exhausted, you can still fill out our Essential Kicks™ Interest List if you think you could benefit from this program to access free resources as more pairs may become available later this year.
Thank you to those who have suggested potential long-haul vanpool shuttle routes for us to consider as part of our Essential Express® program. Our program has been co-sponsored by the City of Redwood City and selected for an award from San Mateo County Transportation Authority to launch vanpool routes for essential workers who commute more than 75 minutes each way. We are also in collaboration with Valley Transportation Authority to explore potential routes for essential workers within Santa Clara County. If you have a route suggestion, fill out our Essential Express Route Wishlist to shape the program.
Our tool lending library, Essential Tools™, is humming along with 63 members who are residents across 18 communities in two counties. Members can borrow items in the inventory for free on a weekly basis and receive discounts at Hassett Ace Hardware Stores. If you didn't see it in November, check out the local press coverage of the program from Redwood City Pulse!
“I have been having a positive experience with the program. It's been a great way to obtain tools that I may not need to own but only use occasionally or just once.” Essential Tools member
We are honored to be collaborating with the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Management and the San Mateo County Sustainability Department on key initiatives. You can join the program here.
This Essential Manzanita newsletter provides updates on Manzanita Works' programs, resources, and initiatives that may be of benefit to our essential workers and extended community. If you'd like to receive news about our organization overall, you can follow Manzanita Works' LinkedIn page. For example, we recently published our inaugural Annual Report for 2025 and we encourage you to read it to learn more about our work. You can also find the report in the "About Us" section of our website www.manzanita.works.
Manzanita Works, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to supporting the workforce and their families live fruitful, dignified lives. We focus on helping essential workers close the gaps that interrupt their ability to come to work in 6 program areas: housing, commute, health, food security, family care and the future of work.