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ActiveSGV Pioneers New Model for E-Bike Program

February 17, 2023/by Laura McCamy

Based in the San Gabriel Valley, local advocacy partner ActiveSGV has operated a unique e-bike program, GoSGV since the summer of 2022 and is rolling out new options in 2023.

Unlike many local e-bike programs, GoSGV doesn’t give subsidies for an e-bike purchase and, unlike San Diego’s Pe d al Ahead program, it doesn’t require users to log miles or ride a certain distance. We spoke with Jazmin Joyce, Special Programs Specialist with ActiveSGV, about how the program works and why its innovative approach could be a model for other local e-bike programs.

Small group, big plans

Started as a Facebook group a little more than a decade ago, ActiveSGV isn’t a big organization, but the savvy of its staff, board, and volunteers, and its willingness to take risks on innovative programs, have made it stand out. Its first e-bike program, launched in 2016, gave San Gabriel Valley residents $750 toward an e-bike purchase, and it was one of the first such programs in the U.S.

“What we do really well is partnerships,” Joyce says. The group looks for funding opportunities and tries to understand the needs of the community, then works to meet those needs. In the San Gabriel Valley, the bus system is spotty (especially since COVID), there aren’t a lot of accessible bike lanes, and cost is a barrier to riding a bicycle, especially an e-bike. “Transportation is a big barrier. We hear that all the time,” she says.

ActiveSGV decided to create an e-bike program because “people need to get to places that are far away,” Joyce says. “The e-bike is offering that opportunity to not just make it a recreational ride — to make it a useful ride.” With the region’s hilly terrain and hot summers, e-bikes are a natural fit for the group.

Share-to-own e-bikes

However, making e-bikes accessible is a big lift for a small group. So, while GoSGV has relied on grant funding to get started, it hopes that its unusual approach will make the program self-sustaining eventually.

Starting in 2018, GoSGV allowed people to try out bikes. It was originally operated by a private micromobility company. When private operators folded due to the pandemic, ActiveSGV stepped in to run it, with a vision for a program more suited to the needs of the region than docked, short-term rentals.

Under ActiveSGV’s stewardship, GoSGV rents e-bikes by the month, with reduced rates for low-income folks. The program offers a commuter bike and a bakfiets-style cargo bike with a basket in the front. The cargo bikes have been particularly popular, with people using them to take kids to school.

Since its relaunch in August 2022, the program has distributed over 200 bikes, and 23% of users have kept their bikes since the start of the program.

GoSGV gives people a low-cost way to try out life on an e-bike and figure out if it’s a good fit for them. “People really enjoyed the exposure to the e-bike, and they want to buy a bike for themselves because they enjoyed it,” Joyce says. At least five members have bought an e-bike as a result of their experience with the rental bike.

GoSGV also offers test-ride events to raise awareness about the program and give people a chance to try it out before committing to a monthly rental. “We’re able to connect with the community in a different way about bikes,” she says. The team hosts group bike rides, provides guidance and tips on safe riding and storage for new renters, and tries to respond to user questions quickly.

The program recently added a new twist: If a user rents a bike for 36 months, they can keep it as their own. At that point, the rental fees will have covered the purchase price of the bike, with the rider getting to pay for the purchase in small increments while having use of the e-bike.

A self-sustaining model for e-bike access

The funding to buy the e-bikes came through an ATP grant to the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. At present, operational costs are covered by rental fees, donations, and grants, but Joyce believes the GoSGV model can become self-sustaining.

The group plans to expand the program to local university campuses and also hopes to expand its bike fleet, especially the cargo bikes, which are in such high demand that they are limited to a two-month rental.

“We want to create access and exposure to these types of bikes,” Joyce says. Many people hadn’t thought about buying an e-bike before. ActiveSGV builds bike culture, one bike at a time, through its GoSGV program.

How to apply for the program:

San Gabriel Valley residents can apply by submitting an application at GoSGV.com. Once you’re approved for the program, you can schedule a time to pick up your bike or have it delivered for a $45 delivery fee.

Electric Bicycle Incentive Work Group Meeting Report: 1/31/23

February 17, 2023/by Laura McCamy

The meeting of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Electric Bicycle Incentives Project work group on January 31, 2023, provided more information about program parameters and a robust discussion of details still being formulated. Here’s what you need to know.

California’s statewide e-bike program begins to take shape

Over the past few work group meetings, with excellent input from the public (including many of you), CARB has settled on these parameters for the e-bike incentive program:

To qualify, participants can make no more than 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL).
The base incentive will be $1,000.
Participants can get an additional $750 toward the purchase of a cargo bike or adaptive bike.
People whose income is below 225% of FPL or who live in a disadvantaged community can qualify for an additional $250, so the maximum incentive amount is $2,000.
Incentives can be applied toward sales tax, as well as the purchase price.
Incentives will be applied at the point of sale.
All three classes of e-bikes can qualify for incentives.
Used bikes will not be eligible.
Incentives can be used to buy e-bikes from local bike shops or online retailers with a business location in California.
Adaptive bikes can include tricycles. CARB plans to keep the definition of adaptive e-bikes as broad as possible.

The incentives will be first-come-first-served but with a hybrid model that reserves at least 50% of funding for priority applicants (those under 225% FPL or living in disadvantaged communities).

We also learned that the launch date, scheduled for Q1 of 2023, will be delayed until the second quarter, so look for the application window to open in April or later (no date set yet).

There will be another work group meeting, probably in March. We will give you more specific information about launch dates as soon as we have it.

CARB presentation

E-bike options still to be determined

The work group participants had a lot to say about the quality of e-bikes. Some are concerned that, if they buy one of the least expensive models available, the bike might break down, it might be hard to get parts to service it, and there might be an increased chance of battery fires. Several people expressed concerns about risks from improperly charging batteries.

CARB indicated an openness to allowing participants to use a portion of their incentives for gear such as helmets and locks, if the cost of the bike is less than the full incentive amount. Also, after discussion at the prior work group, the agency proposed requiring a minimum one-year warranty on electrical parts. The previous proposal had been two years, which would have disqualified some of the more affordable makes of e-bikes.

A CARB proposal that eligible bikes come with front and rear lights installed was not controversial. But requiring bikes to be assembled by the manufacturer at the manufacturer’s expense was hotly debated. Assembly is standard when buying bikes through a local retailer, but many e-bikes ordered online come with some assembly required. The program needs to balance the concern that people might get a bike they aren’t able to assemble against the need to include online retailers in the program and the fact that some communities don’t have a nearby bike shop.

People at the meeting expressed concern about education and training for participants, which will be discussed at a future work group. Other possible program parameters include priority for applicants with disabilities and a follow-up program to provide repair services to keep the bikes in good working condition.

As always, CalBike will continue to follow the development of this program and give you all the latest information. If you’re not already on our e-bike mailing list, you can sign up below.

CalBike 2023 Agenda: Invest in Our Transportation Future/Divest from Regressive Road-Building

February 15, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

CalBike’s agenda for 2023 continues our momentum from last year, lifting up multi-year campaigns like the Bicycle Safety Stop and Complete Streets and introducing a bold new framework with our Invest/Divest campaign.

Our goals and vision remain the same: Build communities where all Californians have equitable access to safe streets, improving health and bringing joy along the way. However, our efforts have a new sense of urgency as each year highlights the increasing damage of toxic emissions to our climate alongside increasing numbers of fatalities on our streets. We believe safe, active transportation should play a critical role in mitigating climate calamity and traffic violence, and bike advocates aren’t peripheral allies but central to this fight.

Introducing CalBike’s Invest/Divest Campaign

Change is scary and often met with resistance, especially from entrenched interests. But the time for radical change is now if we want to preserve a habitable climate for future generations.

To meet the moment, CalBike is launching Invest/Divest: a campaign to shift California’s transportation spending from traffic-inducing, climate-killing, over-policed, and community-destroying motor vehicle road expansions to Complete Streets and other projects that make it easier and safer for more people to get around by biking, walking, or using public transportation.

Our Invest pillars are:

Invest in Complete Streets: Prioritize new safe, accessible, and equitable infrastructure that makes biking, walking, and micromobility convenient and appealing. Invest in safe roadways for all transportation modes, bringing us closer to Vision Zero and our ambitious climate goals.
Invest in Just Streets: We’re expanding the definition of a Complete Street to mean one where people of all identities and bodies are safe from police harassment. To accomplish this, we must decriminalize biking and walking, including bikes treating stop signs as yields—often used in biased, pretextual policing—to make our complete streets safe for all identities and bodies. Remove discriminatory barriers based on class, race, gender, age, ability, and other identities and invest in communities where the safety of all residents is paramount.
Invest in Complete Communities: No more bike lanes to nowhere. Invest in connected bikeways and pedestrian paths that provide safe, integrated access to essential destinations, making active transportation a viable option for more Californians.
Invest in Thriving Communities. Invest in long-term neighborhood safety, security, and wealth that connects sustainable transportation options with affordable housing that is integrated with healthy destinations. We must empower the communities most impacted by harmful transportation investments to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, local toxic air, and lethal streets.

CalBike will continue to advocate statewide e-bike incentives by:

Working with CARB and our allies to help create an equitable pilot program

Advocating for more funding for e-bike incentives in the 2024 budget and beyond

To fund these critical investments and prevent further destruction of the climate and the environment and its impact on our most marginalized populations who face these injustices first and worst, we must:

Divest from Freeway Expansion: Don’t build one more mile of dead-end infrastructure that increases traffic, damages communities, increases fossil fuel dependence, and creates new maintenance bills that California can’t afford to pay. Divest from failed traffic mitigation policies that lead to gridlock, and invest those funds in infrastructure to move California into the future.
Divest from Climate Collapse: Transportation is the biggest contributor to GHG emissions, so we must divest from projects that increase VMT and invest those funds in low- or no-carbon transportation alternatives.
Divest from Environmental Racism: Low-income communities of color are harmed the most by toxic air, freight distribution, displacement, and gentrification pressures. It’s time to divest from projects that bring environmental degradation and invest those funds in historically marginalized communities.
Divest from Enforcement and Criminalization: Californians need safety from the violence of cars, freight trucks, and other forms of publicly-subsidized harm that especially burden and criminalize Black and brown bodies/communities. Divest from racist, militarized traffic enforcement and invest in community resources to support and protect vulnerable residents.
Divest from Policing as a Street Safety Solution: Law enforcement is often positioned as the prevailing authority on street safety, ignoring other forms of community protection. We cannot trust the police to enforce traffic laws equitably without the removal of white supremacy from law enforcement. Therefore, we must remove police enforcement from Vision Zero and other safe streets strategies.

Put your money where your climate is: Aligning transportation funding with California’s climate and equity goals

Where you spend your money shows your priorities. California prides itself on being a climate leader. But our state doesn’t deserve that title as long as it keeps spending billions on transportation projects that increase greenhouse gases while underfunding or completely ignoring much cheaper projects that could bring about the green transportation revolution we desperately need.

CalBike has consistently advocated for California to spend more on active transportation. We were instrumental in passing legislation that created the Active Transportation Program, which funds bikeways and other Complete Streets infrastructure across California, and we’ve successfully pushed to increase funding for that program. We helped secure funding for California’s first statewide e-bike incentive program, and we’ve urged Caltrans to add Complete Streets to repaving projects. We will continue to advocate for funding for complete bike networks and other green infrastructure.

Yet, despite all these successes, active transportation still accounts for a tiny fraction of California’s transportation spending. To align our transportation spending with climate and equity goals outlined in state climate and transportation plans, California needs to shift funding from harmful freeway expansion projects to community-building, climate-friendly, active transportation corridor construction.

In this year’s budget negotiations, CalBike will advocate for state funding to be divested from harmful freeway expansions and projects that perpetuate the climate crisis and commit environmental harms and invest in programs and projects that advance complete, just streets, connected mobility infrastructure, zero carbon micromobility options, and long-term neighborhood and community sustainability. We can easily afford to build the safe, complete streets and neighborhoods we need simply by shifting our funding priorities.

Investing in freedom of mobility

Recent events highlight how far we have to go to change the broken institution of policing and unequal enforcement of our traffic laws. Yet, California continues to invest in enforcement and criminalization strategies for street safety while ignoring or underfunding safe infrastructure and other community resources. Black Americans and other people of color are disproportionately victims of overly aggressive police enforcement and brutality while walking, running, riding bicycles, taking public transit, or driving. Our over-reliance on the police to solve our social and mobility inequalities creates problems rather than solving them.

In 2022, CalBike and our allies achieved a hard-fought victory, passing the Freedom to Walk Act to decriminalize safe, mid-block pedestrian crossings, but our work is just beginning. Going forward, we will continue to work to decriminalize mobility and commonsense traffic behaviors like the Bicycle Safety Stop. And we’ll work to reform traffic enforcement to eliminate pretextual policing and ensure that California’s streets are safe and welcoming for all identities and bodies.

Endlessly growing enforcement budgets have not stopped the ever-increasing numbers of traffic fatalities and injuries. It’s time to invest in data-backed, safe infrastructure solutions. CalBike will advocate for California to divest from harmful over-criminalization that perpetuates and widens social inequality and invest in educational programs and policies that foster safe mobility for all Californians.

Three tactical approaches to Invest/Divest

We will approach our Invest/Divest campaign through three strategies: legislation,

budget reform, and administrative advocacy.

Legislation: We’ll shape, support, sponsor, and work to advance legislation that addresses a range of strategic priorities, leading with safety and equity.
Budget: We’ll advocate for funding increases for active transportation projects and implementing Complete Streets by divesting and reallocating money from harmful freeway expansion projects and biased traffic enforcement.
Agency action: We’ll work with California environmental and transportation agencies like Caltrans, the Air Resources Board, the California Transportation Commission, the Office of Traffic Safety, California Highway Patrol, and CalSTA to steward state-level policies, programs, and guidelines to better support Complete Streets, align transportation spending with the state’s climate and equity goals, and deprioritize enforcement as a major street safety solution.

Boldly going where no bike advocacy campaign has gone before

In the coming weeks and months, keep an eye on your inbox as we’ll launch new campaigns on critical programs and initiatives and ask you to take action to help us succeed.

We’re excited about what we can achieve in 2023, and we hope we can count on your support to make it happen. Your emails, calls, tweets, and petition signatures make a difference; when lawmakers know constituents are listening and engaged, they pay attention. We look forward to working with you to build safer, more equitable, and joy-filled Complete Streets.

CalBike Insider: First Look at 2023 Active Transportation Bills

February 2, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

It’s still early days, and CalBike is busy working with legislators and allies to firm up our legislative agenda for 2023, but we’ve already got a few bills on our radar. Here’s an early peek at the 2023 legislation that could make California streets more walkable, bikeable, and equitable.

Pave the Bike Lane

Once again, Assemblymember Laura Friedman is leading the way with critical legislation to turn plans into action. AB 6 fixes a misalignment between regional planning and funding to execute those plans. It would require regional transportation agencies to prioritize projects that reduce GHGs and vehicle miles traveled and promote active transportation. It’s a much-needed change that will help move complete streets projects from planning to implementation.

Divest from the Freeway

AB 7, also by Assemblymember Friedman, ends funding for freeway projects that expand capacity for single-occupancy vehicles. It’s a policy shift we need to mitigate climate change and the toxic pollutants and displacement that endanger communities near freeways.

Safety Stop Redux

After the Bicycle Safety Stop failed to become law twice, Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath introduced AB 73, which proposes pilot programs to test the effects of allowing people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields. While the many states that have already adopted similar laws could be considered (successful) tests, we support anything that moves California out of the dark ages on the safety stop.

Vehicle Weight Fee

Assemblymember Chris Ward has introduced AB 251, a measure to study the relationship between vehicle weight and rates of injury to pedestrians, bike riders, and other vulnerable road users. The study would look at the possibility of assessing a weight fee on passenger vehicles, making it more expensive to drive a bulkier car. We hope it disincentivizes people from buying more lethal vehicles.

Limit Pretextual Policing

As recent tragic events in Memphis illustrated yet again, giving police the power to stop, detain, and aggressively harass people for minor traffic offenses too often leads to violence, and even death, especially if the person is Black or Latino. SB 50, introduced by Senator Steven Bradford, would limit the police’s ability to make pretextual stops and thus limit racial profiling that continues to be rampant. CalBike strongly supports this measure because this bill will curtail the all-too-common pretextual bike stops that make riders of color even more unsafe.

The legislative slate hasn’t been finalized yet, and many more crucial pieces of legislation are in the works. We’ll have more to report soon when CalBike releases its 2023 agenda.

In Praise of the Classic Bike

February 2, 2023/by Kevin Claxton

We get some version of this question a lot lately: Does CalBike only support e-bikes? The question comes with a certain amount of tension behind it. Has CalBike turned its back on the original “beautiful machine?”

At CalBike, of course, we still love classic bikes (and walking and all forms of active transportation). We’ve been talking about e-bikes a lot lately because we’ve been working on and thinking about e-bike subsidies, both statewide and local.

But the standard or classic unmotorized bike remains one of the most ecologically friendly means of transportation. Here’s why we love the classic bike.

The most efficient means of transport

Riding a bike is three times as fast as walking and takes one-third as much energy. When the safety bike (basically our modern bike, with a chain drive and two equal wheels) was introduced in the late 1800s, the alternative for personal mobility was a horse or horse-drawn carriage, both of which were too expensive for many to afford.

Unlike horses, bikes require no feed or stable and don’t poop in the street. They can be stored in a minimal amount of space, are easy to maintain, and, if well-built, last for years. When bicycles were first introduced, they were a revolutionary form of transport.

Compared to today’s favored personal transportation (cars), bicycles:

Require 100% less gas than a petroleum-powered vehicle
Kill about 40,000 fewer people in the U.S. each year
Cost 0.75% as much as a car on average ($500 vs. $67,000)
Provide healthy exercise
Can be stored or parked in a hallway, bike locker, or rack — no parking spot needed
Are more fun per mile.

Mobility for the masses

Bike riding and activism have gone together from the start. People on bikes lobbied for the first paved roads in the U.S. years before those roads became dominated by automobiles.

In the late 1800s, feminists saw bicycling as a means for women to gain autonomy. Rather than needing to be taken places by a man, a woman on a bike could go wherever she wanted under her own power.

Susan B. Anthony said: “I think it has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike.”

In the years since, bicycles have often been associated with advocacy, from Critical Mass to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Why America doesn’t bike

The classic bike is a practical, clean, inexpensive, compact mode of transportation and, in some places, has become one of the most common ways people get around. But most U.S. cities lag far behind, including in sunny California.

Davis, California, sits at the top of the list of U.S. cities by bike mode share, with 17.48%. Nine other California cities make it to the top 25. But none of our biggest cities make the list — biking infrastructure in Los Angeles is woefully inadequate (though major kudos to LA allies who are working tirelessly to change that), and even more bike-friendly cities like San Francisco have very low bike mode share (2% in 2019).

The reasons are complex, but our built environment is at the root. Copenhagen became a bike city when it built safe infrastructure to support biking. We’re witnessing a similar transformation in real time in Paris over the last few years.

A bike is a bike

At the end of the day, a bike is a bike, whether it’s a featherlight titanium road bike, a family cargo bike, or a slow-pedaling cruiser. Finding the right bike to fit your life can make commuting a delight and running errands a breeze. It’s the closest thing to flying while staying on the ground.

And, if e-bikes open the possibility of riding for people who might not otherwise be able to get around by bike, we welcome them to the fold, not to replace classic bikes but to ride alongside them.

But too few people will get to experience the joy of biking as long as our streets are dominated by speeding cars and trucks and our bike facilities are inadequate and unsafe. So we have a lot more work to do to create space for people walking, riding scooters, pushing strollers, and, of course, riding bikes. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.

CalBike Response to Governor’s ATP Clawback

January 18, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

CalBike is disheartened by Governor Gavin Newsom’s preliminary budget, which claws back almost half of the historic increase to the Active Transportation Program (ATP) of $1.1 billion (some funds were found from elsewhere for a net reduction of $200 million). We understand that a projected $22.4 billion budget shortfall requires cutting expenditures. However, the total transportation budget for 2023-24 is $32 billion, 3% less than the 2022-23 allocation, but even with some of the ATP clawback restored, the program is taking a disproportionate hit with its funding cut by 18%.

The ATP was created in 2013 with a $100 million annual budget. Since then, the annual allocation has more than doubled to around $230 million. However, demand for ATP funds has outstripped the funding from the program’s inception. As communities across California work toward Vision Zero goals and to meet residents’ demands to create more walkable, bikeable neighborhoods, the number and quality of applicants has soared. Even with the boost from last year’s budget and a total of $1.6 billion in Cycle 6, only about one-quarter of the projects from that cycle got funding.

While the governor found replacement funding for $300 million of the $500 million taken out of the program and promises that all the projects approved for grants in Cycle 6 of the Active Transportation Program will get the funding promised to them, the preliminary budget is a worrying sign that California isn’t serious about meeting its climate change goals.

It’s time to stop building freeways

The data is clear: Our climate goals and freeway spending decisions do not align. California’s Strategic Growth Council has asked our decision-makers to address the gap between the vision for a more climate-friendly and equitable transportation system and infrastructure spending decisions. The Council further points out to our state’s decision-makers:

“A significant share of funds at the state, regional, and local levels continue to be spent on adding highway lanes and other projects that increase vehicle travel. This funding not only adds to the maintenance burden of an aging highway system but also means less available funding for other investments that might move more people (such as running more buses or prioritizing their movement) without expanding roadways or inducing additional vehicle travel and provide Californians with more options to meet daily travel needs. Additionally, in most situations, particularly in urban areas, adding highway lanes will not achieve the goals they were intended to solve (such as reducing congestion) as new highway capacity often induces additional vehicle travel due to latent demand that then undermines any congestion relief benefit over time. Critically, these projects also add burdens to already impacted communities along freeway corridors with additional traffic and harmful emissions, and by further dividing and often displacing homes and families in neighborhoods that were segmented by freeways decades prior.”
California Transportation Assessment Report Pursuant to AB 285, California Strategic Growth Council

Early data from 2022 places transportation as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), yet the governor’s proposed budget cuts funding for several programs that mitigate climate change while continuing to provide billions for infrastructure projects that will increase GHG emissions.

Californians bear the brunt of climate change. We know what we need to do to mitigate it. Yet the governor’s priorities, as revealed in his draft budget, promise austerity in the areas where we were already spending far too little and maintain funding levels for building and widening climate-destroying freeways.

The $1 billion for bikes in last year’s budget was a good step in the right direction, but it wasn’t enough. CalBike will pursue the following goals in the 2023 budget process:

Raise ATP funding to 10% of the state’s transportation budget — around $3.2 billion — by transferring funds from transportation projects that don’t align with the state’s climate goals.
Allocate $50 million for another round of e-bike purchase incentives in 2024
Set aside $500 million to help communities fund connected active transportation networks that provide viable alternatives to travel by car.
Restore full funding of all other programs for low- and no-carbon transportation.

More analysis of the budget from an active transportation perspective from Streetsblog.

Local E-Bike Incentives Provide More Options for Californians

January 17, 2023/by Laura McCamy

The rollout of California’s statewide e-bike incentive program is getting closer, but it’s still a few months away. If you’d like to buy an e-bike and need help to make your purchase, many local programs currently provide incentives, and new ones may come online soon.

We spoke with managers from two Bay Area agencies about the programs they administer. Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) and 511 Contra Costa (511CC) have very different programs, and both have done follow-up surveys with participants, providing valuable insights about the successes and challenges of e-bike incentives.

Peninsula Clean Energy: Income-qualified e-bike vouchers

PCE started its E-Bikes for Everyone program in 2021 because “our end goal is zero transportation emissions by 2035,” according to Programs Manager Phillip Kobernick. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, so he says PCE saw “potentially a lot of VMT reduction potential” in its e-bike voucher program.

In 2021, PCE offered $800 vouchers to residents in its service area (San Mateo County) with income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level. “It’s the most popular program we ever launched,” Kobernick says. The program had a $250,000 budget to provide 300 vouchers, and they were all claimed within four days after launch.

In 2022, PCE increased the rebate amount to $1,000, did more targeted outreach to slow the process, and gave out 239 vouchers.

Like the upcoming statewide incentive program, the PCE incentive is a point-of-sale voucher. It contracts with bike shops and sends qualified customers to buy bikes there. The buyer gets a discount in the amount of the voucher, and PCE pays the difference to the shop. Participants can also buy elsewhere (about half of the people in the program chose to do that) and get reimbursed after the purchase. The incentives cover up to 80% of the purchase price, so participants must pay for the remaining 20%.

There have been some glitches in the rollout. For example, about half the people awarded vouchers didn’t use them; follow-up surveys found that the main reasons were price, availability of the desired model, and inability to do a test ride. PCE offered unused vouchers to people on the waitlist, and funds that don’t get used roll into the program budget for the following year. And they discovered a couple of instances where a grantee tried to sell their voucher rather than use it themselves.

Despite the challenges, the program is meeting its goals. “It looks like, through our surveys, we are seeing a noticeable reduction in VMTs (vehicle miles traveled),” Kobernick says. About one-third of participants now say that an e-bike is their primary mode of transportation, and he estimates that they have reduced their VMT by 10% on average. He noted that most cities would jump at a chance to implement a program delivering a VMT reduction.

The PCE program has had a budget of $547,000 over two years and will offer another round of vouchers in 2023. In 2022, El Concilio provided support for completing applications, and PCE worked with the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition to provide group rides and classes to help people feel comfortable on their bikes.

How to apply for an E-Bikes for Everyone Voucher: The program is only open for a short period each year. Check their website for 2023 program information.

511 Contra Costa: E-bike rebates without income caps

The Electric Bicycle Rebate Program 511CC offers to Contra Costa County residents differs from both the PCE and statewide incentives in several ways:

It’s an after-purchase rebate rather than an up-front incentive.
All county residents are eligible for a rebate with no income caps.
The rebate amounts are much lower: $150 standard rebate; $300 rebate for people living at or below 400% of the federal poverty level.
The funds are available throughout the year on a rolling basis rather than during a short application window.

“Part of our overall goal of 511 Contra Costa is to reduce vehicle trips,” says Kirsten Riker, Project Manager for Advanced Mobility Group, which manages transportation demand management programs for 511CC. “It’s not designed for social equity. It’s designed to get people into other modes. This is a little extra carrot.”

Riker also manages a second program, Charge Up, that offers $500 rebates. Funded by a half-cent sales tax through the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, that incentive has income caps, and only residents of specific communities within the county can qualify. If someone applies for the 511CC rebate and could qualify for the higher incentive, their application is automatically forwarded to this program.

However, the primary goal of Riker’s work is reducing VMT and carbon emissions. “When we developed the program, we knew that you could go with a much higher amount and help fewer people,” Riker says. “We took the approach that less means more.”

Since it rolled out in 2020, the 511CC program has given out $162,000 for 888 rebates, with 23% going to low-income residents. The Charge Up program has given 64 rebates since it started in 2022.

The programs do extensive surveying to determine their effectiveness, and 90% of participants have responded. That data helps ensure that the e-bike rebates are achieving their goals. It will help local and statewide agencies deliver more effective e-bike programs in the future, with a report coming soon from a UC Davis researcher. For example, the 511CC initially had a price cap of $5,000 for eligible bikes, but now every e-bike qualifies for a rebate as long as it has pedals.

“$150 isn’t going to change the world,” Riker says, but she feels it creates “e-bike ambassadors” — people excited about riding who want to tell their friends and neighbors how stoked they are about their bikes. She adds, “For a lot of people, their e-bike has changed their life.”

“I feel like there’s a tipping point. At some point, everybody’s going to buy an EV because you’re going to have to,” she says. She notes that over half the bikes at Bike to Work Day in Contra Costa County in 2022 were e-bikes. She feels like getting people to experience the joy of biking on an electric bike is a great way to get people who have never biked to ride. “We’re not going after bicyclists. We’re going after drivers,” she says.

How to get a 511CC or Charge Up e-bike rebate: Any Contra Costa County resident can get a $150 after-purchase rebate. If you live in an equity priority community within the county and meet the income qualifications, you can apply for a $500 Charge Up rebate.

Of course, there are other local e-bike purchase incentives available. If you have a qualifying car to trade in, you could get up to $7,500 from your local air quality management district. And stay tuned for more information about California’s statewide e-bike purchase incentive program.

E-Bike Incentives Report: November 30, 2022, CARB Work Group Meeting

January 9, 2023/by Laura McCamy

The California Air Resources Board held a work group meeting to continue its discussion of the parameters of the Electric Bicycle Incentives Project on November 30, 2022. Around 150 people attended the Zoom workshop, including representatives from the e-bike industry, bicycle shop owners, nonprofits who work with potential voucher recipients, bicycle coalition leaders, and members of the public interested in the program.

Here are some highlights from the meeting, plus information CalBike learned about e-bike purchase incentives after following up with CARB staff.

More funding for implementation

At the work group, CARB announced that it has another $3 million for the program in addition to the $10 million allocated by the legislature. Program staffers anticipate that the extra funding will help augment their outreach. Hopefully, the extra money will free up more of the $10 million for incentives rather than administrative expenses. CalBike applauds CARB for finding the extra funding and demonstrating that the agency understands the value of the e-bike incentive program.

Lowered income eligibility limits, more discussion of eligible bikes

CARB staff confirmed to CalBike that two parameters for the program have been finalized: the income eligibility limits and which classes of e-bikes will be eligible for incentives.

In prior presentations, CARB proposed 400% of the federal poverty limit as the income cap for e-bike incentives. However, at the last work group, staff announced that the income limit will be lower: 300% of FPL to align the eligibility requirements for the e-bike program with those of other CARB clean vehicle programs, which will be lowered to 300% FPL in 2023.

In response to overwhelming support for allowing Class 3 e-bike models to be eligible for incentives, CARB will include all three classes of e-bikes in the program. However, manufacturers will have to apply for their models to be eligible for purchase with the vouchers.

In response to concerns about maintenance, to ensure that people who receive the vouchers have support to keep their bikes in good repair, CARB proposed requiring a manufacturer’s warranty of at least two years. That would eliminate Rad Power Bikes, which makes some of the most affordable e-bikes on the market because it only offers a one-year warranty. Commenters noted that more expensive bikes tend to have longer warranties, which might put this requirement at odds with the equity goals of the program.

A quick internet search found that many e-bike manufacturers offer a five-year warranty on the frame and fork and one year on other parts. Provisions to ensure bike quality and repairability will undoubtedly get further discussion at future work group meetings.

Next steps for California’s e-bike incentive program

CARB plans to hold another work group meeting in January to continue receiving input on program parameters. If you’re not already on CARB’s list and want to be notified about this and future e-bike meetings, sign up for CARB’s e-bike list. In the past, they sent meeting notifications to everyone interested in transportation electrification, but future notices will be sent only to the e-bike-specific list.

Of course, CalBike will also let you know about future e-bike meetings. You can sign up for our list at the bottom of this post.

Meeting presentation

Video of the 11/30/2022 meeting

CalBike’s Best and Worst of 2022

December 23, 2022/by Laura McCamy

The past few years have been disappointing in so many ways (because, you know — pandemic, war, climate catastrophes). But 2022 had a lot of bright spots, and for active transportation in California, more highs than lows. And we think that momentum will carry us into even bigger and bolder achievements in 2023 (because we’re optimists!).

Here’s a brief and wholly non-comprehensive compendium of the best and worst developments for biking in California and beyond in 2022.

Best new California law that’s changing the conversation across the nation: AB 2147, the Freedom to Walk Act

The governor’s signature on Assemblymember Phil Ting’s Freedom to Walk Act was a huge step forward for equity on California streets. The victory was the result of a two-year campaign by CalBike and our allies with outstanding leadership from Asm. Ting.

California wasn’t the first to pass a law decriminalizing jaywalking: Virginia passed similar legislation a year earlier and a Kansas City law goes even further than California or Virginia in legalizing safe street crossings. But the passage of this landmark law in the most populous state in the U.S. has sparked a national conversation that may be poised to accelerate the end of outmoded jaywalking laws.

Best law adding bikes to the California Vehicle Code: AB 1909, the OmniBike Bill

Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s OmniBike Bill makes several critical changes to the California Vehicle Code that make people on bikes safer. The most vital is requiring people in cars to change lanes to pass someone on a bike, which will reduce stressful near misses and dangerous collisions. This critical legislation is a big step towards recognizing that riding a bike isn’t the same as driving a car, and we need road rules tailored to smart biking to help everyone share the road more safely.

Most consequential transportation design fail: The Mad Maxification of American trucks and SUVs

We don’t have the statistics for 2022 yet, but the last few years have shown a disturbing increase in bike and pedestrian road deaths. The reasons for the rise are complex, but if you wanted to design a motor vehicle to maximize injury to the human body, you’d build trucks and SUVs with huge front grills and blind spots in the front as well as the rear. Bad for aerodynamics and fuel efficiency, but excellent at increasing severe injuries and deaths in even low-speed collisions. What’s next, car manufacturers? Fenders with metal spikes? Front-mounted swords? Mario Kart-style shell launchers?

Most forward-thinking law that will change the way communities approach traffic planning: SB 932, the Plan for the Future Bill

Streets for All cited Senator Anthony Portantino as a bike champion on the rise in its 2021-2022 Mobility Report Card, and the Plan for the Future Bill is one big reason. This is a bold new law that requires cities and counties to not only update their circulation plans to improve safety for people biking and walking but to implement those changes. It will take several years to start seeing the effects of this measure, but we believe they will be profound, and CalBike is proud to have been a cosponsor on Senator Portantino’s legislation.

Best way to destroy the climate: California’s freeway addiction

According to a recent study, the transportation sector contributes 60% of greenhouse gases in California, yet Caltrans can’t kick its freeway-building habit. Even though study after study proves that adding lanes increases congestion and escalates greenhouse emissions, Caltrans continues to spend millions on freeway widening projects. Caltrans—it’s time to be part of the solution, not the problem.

Best fairytale ending for car-free streets: San Francisco’s JFK Promenade

During the pandemic, San Francisco expanded car-free days from just weekends to 24/7 on the main artery through Golden Gate Park, JFK Drive. The people loved it and organized to turn the road from a “drive” to a “promenade.” They won! The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to make the car-free state permanent. There was much rejoicing on the promenade!

But some didn’t like all the fun that people of all ages had biking, walking, running, and rollerskating and they said, Not so fast, happy people. The road was theirs! To drive their big, fancy cars, not for people to breathe fresh air and enjoy the park! So they put an initiative on the ballot to take the promenade away.

But the people didn’t give up. They put their own initiative on the ballot to keep JFK Promenade car-free all the time. And the persistent pedestrians prevailed! Voters defeated the ballot initiative that killed joy and passed the one that preserved the car-free street. There was much rejoicing on the promenade!

And, seriously, this was a massive win that showed the popularity of slow streets. Congratulations to all involved.

Most unusual bicycle road hazard: Bull attacks off-road bike racers

When the organizers of an off-road bike race in Bakersfield called their challenge “stupidly hard,” they didn’t realize what an understatement that would prove to be. In the middle of the race, a bull decided it didn’t like where this was going and charged riders. Fortunately, the three riders who connected with the bull’s horns weren’t seriously injured, but perhaps next year’s course will be less bullish on animal interactions.

Best way to spend $1.1 billion: California’s Active Transportation Program

California’s ATP provides a dedicated funding source for projects that improve bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. It’s a fabulous program that has benefited many California communities, and CalBike is proud to have advocated for its creation, but as demand for complete streets projects increases, the amount of funding hasn’t kept up.

In 2022, lawmakers increased funding for the ATP by more than 4X with a $1.1 billion infusion of cash. In the most recent funding round, fewer than one-quarter of the projects vying for money will get funded, still falling far short of what we need but much more than would have been possible without the extra cash.

Worst anticipated veto of a bill that should have passed: AB 1713, the Bicycle Safety Stop

In a year when Governor Newsom signed 15 excellent bike-friendly bills into law, Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath pulled the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill ahead of a promised veto. Many states have enacted similar laws with no negative (and many positive) consequences, so the governor’s intractable opposition to legalizing commonsense biking is hard to explain.

Boerner Horvath continues to champion the safety stop for people riding bikes, and she has already introduced AB 73 to create a pilot program to test it in the next legislative session, and CalBike continues to work toward a California safety stop law.

Most unexpected support for the bicycle safety stop: NHTSA says evidence shows “bicyclist stop-as-yield laws to enhance safety and protect cyclists”

If you need proof of the mainstream acceptance of the bicycle safety stop, look no further than a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration bulletin released in March that endorses laws legalizing the practice: “Bicyclist stop-as-yield laws allow cyclists to mitigate risk to their advantage, increase their visibility to drivers and reduce exposure.” The fact sheet cites multiple studies showing the benefits of the safety stop and ends with, “Based upon the current research and data available, these laws showed added safety benefits for bicyclists in States where they were evaluated, and may positively affect the environment, traffic, and transportation.” Thank you, NHTSA!

What were your best and worst of 2022? Tweet at us, tell us on Facebook or Instagram, or go old school and send us an email.

California’s Big Bike Year: 2022 in Review

December 14, 2022/by Kevin Claxton

What can we say about 2022? We didn’t get everything we wanted, but thanks to advocacy from CalBike and our supporters and allies, it was a fantastic year for biking and walking in California. Here’s a short stroll down victory lane.

More money for biking and walking

California shows its values where it spends its money. Today, active transportation projects represent just a tiny fraction of the state’s transportation spending, but in 2022, that fraction got a little less tiny.

A diverse constituency advocated for $2 billion for bikes in the budget passed in 2022, and unfortunately, we came up short of that ambitious goal. However, we did secure the most funding ever for active transportation projects: $1.1 billion, a more than fourfold increase from prior years.

As communities across California scramble to fund projects to create Complete Streets and increase safety for people biking and walking, this extra money is crucial. It meant there was $1.6 billion available for the most recent funding round (Cycle 6) of the Active Transportation Program. As Streetsblog reported, this led to many more projects receiving funding and in a few years, we’ll see more protected bikeways and intersections as a result.

Of course, it’s still not enough. Every cycle, the ATP receives more excellent proposals than it can fund and has to turn away a higher number of worthy projects. Cities and towns understand that safe streets for all modes are essential for creating livable, sustainable communities. It’s time for the state to understand that too, and devote more money to bikeways and less to freeways.

Big wins for biking and walking

Our legislative recap provides in-depth coverage of all the bills that passed in 2022, so we won’t go into all the detail. Let’s just look at the effect of a few of those bills:

The OmniBike Bill changes the vehicle code to make people on bikes safer both from collisions with motor vehicles and from police harassment.
The Freedom to Walk Act prevents police from issuing jaywalking tickets unless the person was endangering themselves or others. That will eliminate unnecessary and often biased ticketing that impacts disadvantaged communities the most.
The Plan for the Future Bill gives cities and counties a deadline to update their general plans to make biking and walking safer — and provides funding to implement those plans rather than letting them gather dust.
Legislation on pedestrian crossings will bring Leading Pedestrian Intervals to Caltrans-controlled streets. LPIs give pedestrians (and people on bikes) a head start of 3 to 7 seconds before cars get a green light, reducing collisions and near misses.

The successes of 2022 give us excellent momentum heading into 2023, and we’re working on an even bigger and more ambitious agenda for next year.

Bike champions elected

Eight of the 11 candidates CalBike endorsed this year won election or reelection. Every bike champion elected to the state legislature means one more vote for bike-friendly legislation. Our big legislative wins in 2022 reflect the power of those votes. A big shoutout to all of you who biked the vote this year to help bring more progressive leaders to the California legislature.

Coming soon: Statewide e-bike rebates

We won funding for a statewide Electric Bicycle Incentives Program in 2021, and the program won’t launch until 2023, but CalBike has been hard at work on e-bike incentives this year. We’ve provided input to CARB on the details of the program, gathered and disseminated information to keep people up to date on the latest, and shared details about how to access other bicycle purchase programs. Stay tuned for more exciting developments in the new year.

To support CalBike’s vision for sustainable, healthy communities and to power our work in 2023, make a gift of any amount today.