Staff Writer

Costa Mesa officials Friday celebrated a new on-demand rideshare service that will transport seniors and residents with little to no access to a personal vehicle to a transit-rich area in town where they can shop, run errands or travel.

In a ceremony outside the Donald Dungan Library, city leaders unveiled a car and an ADA-accessible 10-passenger van (called the Goat), part of a small zero-emission fleet that can be accessed via telephone or smartphone app free of charge to anyone inside the service area during a three-year pilot program.

Called Let’s Go Costa Mesa, the offering is funded by a $1.5-million grant from California’s Clean Mobility Options program and available to community members in the city’s west side and College Park neighborhood, south of Joann Street.

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Unlike an Uber or Lyft — which transport passengers anywhere they wish to go — these vehicles have a dedicated team of drivers who take riders to stops within the area surrounding the East 17th Street shopping district, bordered by East 18th Street to the north and East 16th Street to the south.

“We’re trying to create some connectivity and independence for seniors and others who are disabled or cannot afford a vehicle,” Mayor John Stephens said after Friday’s event.

“This provides mobility for a whole demographic of folks who previously didn’t have it. It’s good for businesses, too, because it brings people into businesses who wouldn’t otherwise be there.”

Clean Mobility Options is a statewide initiative that funds zero-emission shared mobility projects aimed at serving under-resourced communities, particularly those that may lack transit options, and individuals who cannot walk to bus stops or other forms of public transportation.

The vehicles are furnished through a partnership with Florida-based Circuit Transit, Inc., which provides all-electric shuttle service for short local trips, and will focus on key destinations like healthcare, transportation hubs, grocery stories and senior living communities.

City officials applied for the grant in August 2023 and were approved that October. Stephens called Let’s Go Costa Mesa a great “gap filler” in the city’s menu of transportation options.

“We have pretty good ridership on bus lines throughout the city. We have a lot of protected bike lanes that we’ve put up in the last couple of years,” he said. “We’re trying to provide different opportunities for people to get around in ways that are environmentally conscious.”

The program began with a soft launch last week and is currently operating three vehicles that run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Residents can download the Ride Circuit app through Apple Store or Google Play, or can call the hotline at (949) 828-2065 to schedule a pickup.

The workwear brand Dickies is shedding its Texas headquarters and moving to Costa Mesa, part of restructuring and cost-savings measures by its parent company, VF Corp., which manages Vans and several other well-known lifestyle brands.

The move is expected next spring as Denver-based VF further consolidates its real estate portfolio. The company has targeted more than $300 million in cost savings for its fiscal year ending in March 2025, according to a company spokesman and recent corporate filings.

As part of the plan announced Nov. 22, Dickies will share headquarters space with Vans at its Costa Mesa hub just off the 405 Freeway at 1588 South Coast Drive. The combined companies hope to create a campus where “creativity and best practice sharing can thrive through great collaboration and connections,” according to a written statement by VF spokeswoman Ashley McCormack.

The relocation of Dickies, which VF bought in October 2017 for $820 million, will affect 120 jobs in Texas, McCormack said.

The company did not respond to questions asking how many workers might be hired in Costa Mesa.

The relocation of Dickies, which was founded in 1922 in Forth Worth, is expected to be completed by May 2025, McCormack said.

The move to California runs concurrent to other big shifts to Texas.

Though they’ve left sizeable footprints behind, big-name corporations moving headquarters out of California in recent years included oil company Chevron to Houston from San Ramon, and Elon Musk moving Tesla’s base to Austin from Palo Alto. Others exiting California have been commercial real estate brokerage CBRE, the database management company Oracle and computer maker Hewlett-Packard.

The Dickies move to Orange County comes as VF struggles to execute a turnaround plan amid declining revenue across its brands.

The Dickies workwear brand has evolved over the last century from a low-budget, bib-overall manufacturer with a line of affordable safety footwear, work trousers and jeans, to a hipster’s must-have clothing for skating or going out on the town.

At an investor day event held in Denver on Oct. 30, VF CEO Bracken Darrell warned cost-cutting was coming as the company planned a return to growth.

On Nov. 13, S&P Global downgraded VF’s credit rating to junk status because of ongoing revenue declines in its top four brands: Dickies, The North Face, Timberland and Vans.

In its second fiscal quarter ending Sept. 28, Dickies saw revenue fall 11% to $152 million from $171 million in the same year-earlier period. The revenue drop was among the largest in VF’s portfolio.

In the same quarter, Vans saw revenue fall 11% to $667 million, The North Face fall 3% to $1.09 billion, and Timberland fall 3% to $475 million.

In October, VF named Chris Goble as global brand president for Dickies. Goble, formerly chief product officer and general manager of Gap North America, replaced Todd Dalhausser, who had previously moved to the outdoor brand The North Face.

Goble, who could not be reached for comment, also held previous posts with clothing brands Old Navy and Levi Strauss & Co, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In a matter related to the restructuring, business unit VF Outdoor LLC issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, also called a WARN notice, indicating plans on Nov. 15 to close a distribution center in Martinsville, Virginia. The closure is expected to affect 242 employees by Jan. 19, according to WARN filing with the Virginia Employment Commission.

A WARN notice related to the 120 affected jobs with Dickies in Texas could not be found with the Texas Workforce Commission.

VF shares rose 66 cents, or 3.5%, to close Monday at $20.43.