Words by Tess Becker
Denver has spent more than $4 million to encourage more people onto e-bikes – and you know what? It's working.
How have they done it?
A rebate program was put into place to incentivize Denver citizens to buy electric bikes.
A standard rebate was $400, $1200 for low-income people, and an extra $500 for those who buy an electric cargo bike.
How popular was it?
The first set of 3,000 vouchers was all claimed within a few days of the initial launch in April, and an additional 1,100 vouchers or so were re-released in July, and “they were gone in 22 minutes,” says Grace Rink, the city’s chief climate officer.
“We thought it might be popular. We just didn’t know how popular it was going to be.”
And how's the program doing now?
The people behind the program thought that funding would last for upwards of three years, but most of the funding was gone in just over six months.
To date, over 4,100 vouchers have been shared, worth a total of more than $4.1 million, and have been redeemed at local bike shops. Local officials are already working to allocate more funding for the program this fall.
Now that's the way to get people out of cars and onto e-bikes.
