What impact will the City of Portland’s e-bike rebate program have? How exactly does the process work? What type of people will take advantage of it? These are just some of the questions I’ve pondered as the date nears for the program to launch this coming spring. And yesterday I biked through an atmospheric river to find the answers.
In the video above you’ll meet Liraz Brand, a 22-year-old Reed College grad and nursing student who got a free e-bike thanks to the Portland Rides PCEF E-Bike Rebate Program. The program soft launched to Portland Community College students back in September and Brand jumped at the opportunity. The $1,600 rebate and additional $300 for accessories, got Brand into a new Trek that she adores and it’s given her much more than just a new way to get around.
“It’s been really nice. I’ve been really enjoying not being in my car.”
“It’s been really nice. I’ve been really enjoying not being in my car,” Brand shared with me during an interview under a leaky outdoor dining patio on Southeast Division where she stopped in for a chat on her way to work. Brand’s car is in disrepair, her other bike got stolen, and she finds the bus too unreliable. But she’s got major mobility needs. She splits her class time between two PCC campuses — one near SE 82nd, the other on N Killingsworth — that are nearly nine miles apart. Then she works in Sellwood, which is in a completely different part of town. Despite those distances, and despite taking up daily cycling in fall and winter, she’s smitten with cycling: “I’ve been having really beautiful interactions with people on the trails. I get to ride the riverfront back from work every day. I’ve been seeing deer and the wildlife of Portland come out, which has been really cool. Yeah, I’ve been loving it.” Brand says getting out of her car has helped her mood and made her days easier to manage. She also finds Portland’s bike infrastructure “incredible,” “next-level,” and, “a cut above” compared to her hometown of Boston, Massachusetts.
As for the e-bike rebate program, she found the process easy to use. After winning a lottery drawing, she received a code for her discount. She then brought that code to the Trek Bicycle Store in Sellwood and they set her up on the bike she wanted, a baby blue Trek FX-2. Brand was also able to purchase a set of pannier bags, a u-lock, a helmet and rain pants with the accessory rebate.
Portland’s rebate program is possible due to a grant from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) and it’s operated by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Everything is funneled through a non-city website (thank god) at PortlandEbikeRebate.com, which Brand said was a bit “clunky” but it did the job.
As I’ve reported, the program will tap into $20 million from the PCEF fund (which comes from a tax on large corporations) to support an estimated 6,000 new e-bike purchases over the next five years.
If those e-bikes have as much impact as the one that went to Brand, Portland will be much better for it.
