138 Portlanders took advantage of the City of Portland’s first e-bike rebate program. The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) launched a pilot of the program back in September and reported last night at a meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Committee that there was “strong demand” for the discounted bikes.
The pilot offered rebates of $1,600 for e-bikes and $300 for accessories to Portland Community College students. A presentation shared last night revealed that 183 of them finished the application and 138 were ultimately verified. The program directs rebate recipients to specific types of bicycles (Class 1 e-bikes with a 20 mph top speed and no throttle only) at authorized e-bike retailers.PCEF Strategic Communications Manager Elizabeth Stover tells BikePortland, “We have 123 more Portlanders on e-bikes and boosted local business by putting $250,037 in the hands of our Portland bike shops.”
Below is some of the data BPS gleaned from 202 pilot program participants:
- The gender split between male and female was relatively even, with males receiving 80 rebates and females receiving 72. Non-binary people received 34 rebates.
- When it comes to race, White people received the overwhelming number of rebates with 81. Black Portlanders received 19 rebates, with Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native people received 28 and 29 rebates respectively.
- Just over 9% of the participants were new to bicycling.
- Asked, “If you weren’t participating in this program would you still consider buying an e-bike?,” 60% of respondents said “Yes.”
13 local bike shops redeemed at least one rebate. The two shops with the most rebates processed were A Convenient Cycle and The e-Bike Store who both sold 31 bikes through the program. Other top sellers were Trek Bicycle Westmoreland (30), Vvolt (27), Sellwood Cycle Repair (25), and Trek Bicycle Slabtown (24). A big measure of success for the pilot is that 88% of retailers said they had a positive experience working with program staff and 100% of respondents said the online portal was clear and easy to use. There were similar levels of good reviews from program participants.
PCEF Transportation Decarbonization Program Manager Seetha Ream-Rao said beyond the clear success, some of the lessons learned include: more outreach to “key demographics,” more education on choosing e-bikes, and it’s important for participants to test ride bikes before making a decision.
Ream-Rao said the main launch of the program will happen in late March (of this year) with a complementary program for adaptive bikes launching in April. BPS will expand offerings in the full launch, adding Class 2 e-bikes and cargo e-bikes (which will qualify for a $2,350 rebate). Visit PortlandEbikeRebate.com to learn more.
NOTE: I realize that some of the numbers in the BPS report don’t quite add up. I’ll follow up with project staff next week to clarify.
UPDATE, 1/26 at 8:44 am: Given the confusion over data in the report, I asked BPS to clarify. They acknowledged a few typos in the report and have shared the statement below:
I spoke to our team, who let me know the chart in the presentation deck had a typo. Please allow me to share an accurate breakdown of those numbers below:
244 rebates were redeemed overall, including:
- 123 E-bike rebates
- 121 Equipment rebates
There were 138 participants awarded, but 15 did not redeem them within the allotted timeframe.
Each participant was awarded a rebate for an e-bike and equipment. However, not everyone who redeemed the rebate for an e-bike redeemed for equipment.
In our chart, the number of overall rebates was incorrectly labeled as “bikes redeemed.”
