Metropolis’s E-Bike Voucher Program introduced enjoyable, accessible, sustainable transit to residents

August 27, 2025 1:27 PM


by Peter Roquemore

In July, Santa Monica’s E-Bike Voucher Program celebrated one 12 months of decreasing congestion on our roadways, making various types of transportation extra accessible, supporting native companies, and instilling a love of biking in additional than 100 Santa Monicans.

The metropolis’s Office of Sustainability & the Environment created the year-long E-Bike Voucher Program in 2024 to extend entry to various and extra sustainable modes of transportation in Santa Monica.

With a price ticket of greater than $1,000, e-bikes are sometimes out of attain for a lot of households. The program distributed vouchers price as much as $2,000 to 122 income-qualified residents in Santa Monica, permitting them to buy a regular bike or an e-bike – and making Santa Monica’s world class bike lanes accessible to much more residents.  

In a ballot, contributors stated this system had an actual impression on their lives.

One household was capable of keep away from buying a second automotive to return to in-person work. “My wife is back to work from the office, which is located in Burbank,” they wrote. “We would need to buy another car if we didn’t have the electric bike.”  

The advantages of this system prolonged to the neighborhood as properly. To help native companies, the vouchers had for use at certainly one of three native bike outlets: Bike Attack Electric, The Bike Center and Helen’s Cycles, which have been chosen by a public procurement course of. The program generated greater than $268,000 in gross sales at these native companies.  

It additionally demonstrated the potential for bikes and e-bikes to scale back emissions and convert automotive journeys to bike journeys, with 70 % of program contributors reporting that they drove much less after receiving their bike or e-bike. And bike journeys changed 30 % of car miles traveled in journeys underneath three miles.   

Since transportation accounts for 60 % of citywide carbon emissions in Santa Monica – greater than another sector – reducing single-occupancy automotive journeys is a vital approach to convey town nearer to its formidable local weather and resiliency objectives. The metropolis’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, adopted in 2019, establishes a goal to transform 50 % of native journeys to foot, bike, scooter and skateboard.

Perhaps probably the most thrilling outcomes of this system was how a lot pleasure biking across the metropolis impressed in contributors. An overwhelming quantity listed the highest profit of getting a motorcycle or e-bike as “fun and enjoyment.”

“I never realized how truly fun biking is and how fast I can get around,” wrote one participant. “Plus, there’s so many people biking today, there’s always new people you can meet.” 

Read the total report on the E-Bike Voucher Program, which is now closed, in English or Spanish.  

 

 

Authored By

Peter Roquemore

Sustainability Analyst

Categories

Getting Around, Programs, Sustainable and Connected, Ways to Get Around