July 10, 2023 - A growing number of cities, such as Denver in Colorado, have discovered that their e-bike vouchers are popular – really, really popular – reports David Zipper in Bloomberg, yet some states and cities are limiting their effectiveness.
Limits on the availability of e-bike incentives is throttling their enormous upside. In April, 2022 Denver invited residents to request a voucher for $400 off a new electric bike or $900 off an e-cargo bike; the city was so inundated with applications that it paused the program in 19 days.
No mobility innovation in recent memory offers a comparable opportunity to simultaneously boost health, protect the environment and improve urban quality of life. Rebate programs that subsidize low-carbon mobility should be a no-brainer.
In the last few years, Colorado has emerged as a national leader for creative e-bike policies with access to around $12 million allocated annually through a quirky state rule known as TABOR, which lets legislators creatively spend surplus tax dollars. Few other states or cities can access a comparable pool of funds, but their leaders can still draw lessons from Colorado’s experience.
Read the full article here – h/t to @TheWarOnCars.
