CalBike Wins Bike Share Funding in New Budget, but Innovative Purchase Incentive Program Gets Deferred

Months of work to include the bicycle in the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project paid off with the Air Resources Board’s decision to include bike share as an eligible expense. Now, cities wishing to expand bike share into disadvantaged communities can apply for funding from the $8 million “Car Sharing and Mobility Options” program.

However, our innovative proposal for a Bicycle Purchase Incentive Program was not approved in the Air Resources Board expenditure plan despite expressions of support by Board members. The proposal fell victim to a last-minute funding delay by the Legislature, caused in part by the May 2016 auction of greenhouse gas emission credits that generated nearly $500 million less in revenue from Big Oil and other polluters than projected.

The decision is not final because the Legislature unexpectedly did not allocate funding for ARB’s plan in the 2016-17 Budget, deferring a final decision until August 2016. CalBike will continue to work with the Legislature and ARB over the summer to encourage funding of our full Bike Purchase Incentive Pilot Program as early as this August, if funding comes through, or by next year’s expenditure plan.