By Whitney Bauck for Bloomberg News.
Broadcast version by Eric Galatas for Colorado News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

A new program in Denver offering rebates for electric bikes has become so popular, you’d think the city was giving away free Broncos tickets.

Residents this month scooped up the latest lot of 400 vouchers within minutes of them becoming available on the city’s online portal. It was the fifth round of the monthly program, which was first launched in April. Even Grace Rink, the city’s chief climate officer who touts the program as a way to help Denver reach its climate goals and reduce air pollution, was surprised by how much of a hit the rebates would become.

“We thought there would be some interest in owning e-bikes — we just had no idea it would be as popular as it has been,” Rink said. “For those of us who have made our careers in government and have tried to tell people about all the programs we have, we know it's hard to get the word out. This one wasn't hard. People jumped on it right away.”

The rebate program offers Denverites between $400 and $1,700 off the purchase of an e-bike. It’s been so successful that the city is now increasingly being looked to as a model by the rest of the country as local communities take on more initiatives to reach net-zero emissions targets. 

E-bikes feature battery-powered motors that assist riders as they pedal, allowing a broader range of people to make more and longer trips than traditional bicycles. While e-bikes have typically attracted less attention than electric vehicles, they’re more financially accessible to a wider swath of people and can help to reduce traditional car traffic and emissions. 

The Denver initiative grew out of a 2020 vote in which residents approved a 0.25% sales tax increase to provide $40 million in funding per year for climate action, meant to move the city toward its goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2040.

When the office of Climate Action, Sustainability & Resiliency (CASR) first launched the rebates, the program reached capacity with more than 3,000 applicants in just weeks. Demand was so high that the city retooled its approach and is now offering the rebates on a limited monthly basis.

What Makes Denver Unique?

While there are a smattering of state and local initiatives that offer e-bike rebates throughout the country, the Denver program stands out for a few reasons. First, the vouchers are offered on a sliding scale, with the biggest benefits reserved for the lowest-income individuals. Rink said income qualification is a crucial part of the program because it bakes equity into climate action.

The vouchers also offer a discount at the point of sale, rather than as a tax rebate that recipients have to wait to get cash back from. That’s another key part of lowering the participation barrier for low-income riders, said Noa Banayan, director of federal affairs at the Boulder, Colorado-based advocacy group PeopleforBikes.

Other distinguishing factors include the size of the rebate — at as much as $1,700, it’s one of the largest in the US.

Another essential feature has been the city government’s partnership with local retailers, which helps to ensure that the bike vouchers are incentivizing recipients to keep money circulating in the local economy.

In New York, advocates for the NY Ride Clean Rebate, which would extend the state’s Drive Clean electric car rebate program to e-bikes, have pointed to Denver as proof that these kinds of programs can work. The New York bill, which would provide an immediate 50% rebate to anyone buying an e-bike for as much as $1,100, passed in the state senate but then died without a vote in the assembly last year. Organizers are pushing it once again in 2022.

“The main takeaway from Denver is that the idea is incredibly popular and that people are incredibly eager to adopt it,” said Darren Goldner, one of the leaders of the Ride Clean effort who helped draft the New York bill. “E-bikes are game-changers that can break through car dependency and open up mobility to people who can’t afford cars. They’re a class leveler that facilitates sustainable transportation for members of the working class.”

What Are the Hurdles?

Denver’s program won’t be a perfect fit for every city. Increased investment in infrastructure, including protected bike lanes and safe bike storage, are crucial for increasing the appeal and safety of using e-bikes for regular transportation. But that can come with a high price tag. “Even a mile of bike lane can cost in the millions of dollars,” said Rink, Denver’s chief climate officer.

But considering that transportation is the second-largest source of emissions for cities like Denver, the costs can be worth it. That’s especially true when factoring in that about 75% of car drives within the city “are just one person driving alone,” and that the “majority of trips are less than six miles from home,” Rink said. An e-bike can easily be swapped for a car on those kinds of trips.

 “If cities are asking, ‘How do we very quickly and effectively reduce the emissions within our city,’ they're going to realize that e-bikes have the best ROI for that problem,” Rink said, referring to return on investment.

The question, though, is whether the rebate program is actually reducing car use. So far, the early data looks promising.

Ride Report , a micromobility-focused technology company, has been tracking the e-bike use of 70 rebate recipients who voluntarily downloaded the company’s app. According to Michael Schwartz, the head of customers and policy, rebate recipients are traveling an average of 3.26 miles per e-bike trip, with 90% riding at least once a week and 70% riding daily.

Andrea Coyle is one of the Denver residents who’s benefited from the program. She and her wife both bought e-bikes using city vouchers with the goal of replacing two car trips a week. But they’ve exceeded their own expectations, and instead find themselves riding “most days,” Coyle said.

Coyle, who received a $400 voucher, deals with chronic fatigue and sports-induced asthma. Riding on an e-bike makes hilly or longer outings more doable for her. And she and her wife are eager to take advantage. There’s “a car trip almost every day that we're replacing,” she said.


Whitney Bauck wrote this article for Bloomberg News.


get more stories like this via email

School buses are getting cleaner in Washington state after this year's legislative session.

Lawmakers in Olympia passed House Bill 1368, which will fund the purchase of zero emission school buses.

Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, said the program is getting off the ground quickly.

"As we work towards that long-term goal of all new school buses being zero emission, we're kick-starting this year with $40 million in grants to school districts in overburdened communities," Senn explained.

Going forward, Senn noted school districts will have to purchase zero-emission vehicles once the total cost of ownership is equal to or lower than the cost of diesel vehicles. The state is leveraging the state's Climate Commitment Act resources to fund the transition of its 10,000 school buses.

Devin Denney, director of transportation for Highline Public Schools in King County, which already has electric school buses in its fleet, said he has driven the electric buses and talked about some of their benefits from a driver's perspective.

"You're not competing against that engine noise, the kids aren't competing against the engine noise," Denney observed. "It's a much quieter bus all the way around. The major advantage, of course, is that there's no tailpipe emissions with an electric bus, so our kids' health is better protected."

Senn emphasized health studies have shown there are negative health effects from diesel vehicles for kids, and it is easy to understand why.

"If you think about kids waiting to get on their bus in front of an elementary school and you have this line of buses idling, letting out diesel fumes right at the height of a little child, it becomes obvious that this is probably not the most healthy thing for our children," Senn added.


get more stories like this via email

Today, in honor of Earth Day, climate advocates are asking California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to rally around a plan to put a $15 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

If passed, the bond measure would fund a range of climate resiliency measures.

Sam Hodder, president and CEO of the Save the Redwoods League, said March was the tenth month in a row to break monthly heat records.

"I think Earth Day is a terrific opportunity for the broader public to recognize how nature is critical for resilience, for our quality of life, for our mental and physical health, and for our communities more broadly," Hodder outlined.

Two similar bills to put a bond measure on the ballot are under consideration in Sacramento, Assembly Bill 1567 and Senate Bill 867, but they have been stalled since last summer. The bond would finance many programs, including some to restore wetlands that guard against sea-level rise, and to remove dead wood in forests to guard against mega-fires, which Hodder noted have killed 20% of the giant sequoias in recent years.

Opponents pointed out the state already faces a budget deficit and cannot afford to take on more debt. But only 5% of California's old-growth coastal redwoods remain, mostly due to aggressive logging many decades ago.

Hodder argued the giant trees can be critical ingredients in the fight against climate change because they trap so much carbon.

"Redwood forests sequester more carbon per acre than any other forest system in the world," Hodder emphasized. "We have the opportunity to transition the redwood forest from something that is vulnerable to climate change to something that is helping to solve and address the climate crisis."

Experts blame climate change for California's wild weather over the past few years, which has been marked by extreme drought, devastating fires and flooding rain.

A new report from the National Wildlife Federation warns that the effects of climate change in the Quad Cities, along the Iowa-Illinois border, will be severe.

But researchers got the public involved in studying to find ways to head off some of the most pressing concerns.

The report says climate change means a warmer, wetter future for the Quad Cities, which straddle the Mississippi River in Iowa and Illinois.

But rather than repeat what experts have already been saying about drastic flooding along the Big Muddy, Prairie Rivers Network River Health and Resiliency Organizer Nina Struss said researchers and Quad Cities residents brainstormed solutions to tackle the effects of climate change.

"Flooding and flash flooding were the top concerns," said Struss. "Extreme heat was also a big concern, as well as drought and other extreme weather events."

Researchers combined that information with hard science at the University of Illinois to create 3D models depicting what climate-induced flooding along the Mississippi could look like in the future.

The survey also asked people to identify which geographical areas and populations are most at risk from the effects of climate change, and worked with the community on solutions to mitigate some of them.

Struss said this research proposes what are known as nature-based solutions to combat the effects of climate change - restoring, preserving and even expanding existing ecosystems, like wetlands and tree canopies. But creating more eco-friendly infrastructure, too.

"Can we work to maybe have our pavements that we're putting in be more permeable, so that they can absorb that water and have that higher water-holding capacity?" said Struss. "Can we focus on areas to plant more native plants that have stronger root systems, versus ones that have shorter root systems, to help with that water-holding capacity?"

Struss said this research isn't a one-off. It will continue to change, she said, as the climate changes, the needs become more clear, and the effects more drastic.

She said progress in addressing climate change relies on more research, education and funding.




get more stories like this via email