Rosemary Kim has been a regular biker for more than a decade, but there were some places she couldn’t reliably get to without relying on her car or a bus — like Tilden Regional Park or to her workplace in Richmond.
A few years ago, when her boyfriend bought an e-bike and raved about it, she began looking into purchasing one of her own, but quickly found that she couldn’t justify the high cost. Besides, she worried that it would be too heavy for her to carry up and down stairs each day.
So when she learned in spring 2023 about a new city program providing free e-bikes to low-to-moderate income residents, she jumped at the opportunity, submitting her application the same day a city newsletter announcing the program landed in her inbox. Kim, an acupuncturist who was living in North Berkeley at the time, was thrilled to learn she was one of 56 people chosen out of a pool of about 600 applicants to receive a new e-bike.
Kim’s commute to Richmond, which could take up to an hour each way before she received the e-bike, has shortened to about 20 minutes. And as she’s gotten more comfortable with her new bike, she’s accompanied her boyfriend on long-distance rides and even braved crossing Golden Gate Bridge amid “horrifying” heavy winds.
The Berkeley E-bike Equity Project (BEEP), a one-year-long, $270,000 pilot program primarily run through the nonprofit Waterside Workshops, was intended to decrease barriers to greener forms of transportation and give residents a way to jettison their gas-guzzling autos, emissions from which make up a large portion of Berkeley’s carbon footprint. Grid Alternatives, a nonprofit in the solar energy field, helped come up with the program’s design.
The e-bikes were free — all participants had to do was put down either a $100 refundable deposit or, if the cost was a barrier, volunteer at the nonprofit for four hours. Waterside Workshops also gave them a year of free repairs.
Now a final report on the Berkeley pilot project, written by Waterside Workshops and city staff, shows that giving free e-bikes results in less car use — though there were a few bumps along the way — and provides lessons for future e-bike giveaway programs in Berkeley or beyond.
As e-bikes have surged in popularity, Berkeley is among the over 100 local and regional jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada that have followed Denver’s lead and launched programs to offset the high upfront costs of purchasing an e-bike, often coming in the form of subsidies. The California Air Resources Board has said it plans to provide $7.5 million to help income-qualified Californians buy e-bikes and in December opened applications to receive a voucher of up to $2,000. (New applications are not currently being accepted, but the project website says subsequent application windows are coming in early 2025.)
Berkeley’s “program is really unique in comparison to most others that have occurred within the U.S. that tend more to just be rebates or … incentives,” said Sarah Moore, the manager of the city’s Office of Energy and Sustainable Development.
Participants drove less, program’s cost was mostly staffing, four e-bikes were stolen
Most of the program’s budget — almost all of which came from the city — went toward staff time, with $56,000 going toward program management and $115,000 allotted for staff to implement the program.
About 37% of the budget was spent on supplies and materials, with $69,000 spent purchasing the e-bikes from Aventon and RadPower and $30,000 spent on parts, accessories and equipment, including helmets, lights, reflectors, rear cargo racks, cargo baskets, kickstands, anti-theft seat leashes and a large chain lock for the bike.
Program organizers estimate that altogether, 114 Berkeley residents benefited from the free e-bikes.
Fifty-six e-bikes were distributed to Berkeley residents over the course of the program, with many participants sharing their bikes with others in their household. Of those, eight were e-cargo Aventon e-bikes, two were RadPower e-Trikes, and one half e-cargo bike, also from RadPower. The remaining 45 were hybrid Aventon e-bikes.
The bikes averaged 13 miles per week, or the equivalent of 11.6 tons of carbon dioxide emissions had those trips been taken in a car the whole year, according to data submitted by the 39 active participants. To have their $100 deposits returned and to continue to receive free e-bike check-ups, participants were required to fill out quarterly surveys and report their monthly odometer readings (there was no mileage quota).
About 77% of participants reported that their reliance on cars or motor vehicles decreased. 69% reported saving money on transportation, avoiding nearly $900 in total car ownership costs on average, according to the final report. At the start of the program, 23% of participants were already experienced and comfortable riding an e-bike; by the end, 85% rated their comfort level at a 4 or 5 out of 5.
“[The e-bike] helps me discover things in my community…like classes at the Berkeley wellness center,” reads a quote in the report from participant Cam Yuen. Another participant wrote in his quarterly survey that he no longer uses his car for short trips.
But the report also offers a glimpse into the reality of biking in Berkeley.
One participant’s e-bike was totaled in an incident with a car. The participant didn’t share many other details, said Hannah Otto, Waterside Workshops’ program manager.
Several participants wrote that bike infrastructure in the West and South Berkeley neighborhoods needed further improvements. One participant wrote in his survey that it was “surprisingly difficult” to get through South Berkeley and Emeryville east of San Pablo Avenue. Another participant wrote that much of Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley “feels sketchy for bikes.”
Theft also posed an issue. Over the program’s duration, four e-bikes were stolen — two were stolen while participants were staying at someone else’s house, one was stolen at a BART station, and another was stolen from a grocery store when a participant forgot to properly affix the chain to the bike lock. Participants weren’t charged for the missing bikes so long as they provided proof of a police report, and they were still able to get back their $100 deposits.
Otto noted that the number of e-bike thefts were actually in line with, if not lower than, what she had anticipated for a group that was mostly unfamiliar with e-bikes.
To qualify for the program, recipients had to demonstrate that they had a secure place — preferably indoors — to store the bike. They were also required to take safety training classes that covered how to use the provided Kryptonite Evolution chain locks (worth over $100) to secure their bikes, Otto said.
When a participant who had initially requested an e-trike dropped out of the program, BEEP organizers faced some difficulties finding a final participant with enough storage space to fit the e-trike.
The trike sat unused for about six weeks, ultimately finding a new home with a participant with mobility and balance issues in Sept. 2023 with help from the West Berkeley-based Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program, which provides adaptive sports, fitness and recreation programs with people with physical disabilities.
Moore declared the program a success. People don’t necessarily use things they get for free, she said. She thought the program’s tailored structure and regular check-ins were key to ensuring participants were getting the most out of it.
Youth trained to assemble and service e-bikes
In addition to giving out free e-bikes, Berkeley’s pilot program also created a youth bicycle mechanics internship that taught youth how to safely assemble and service e-bikes.
“E-bike repair and knowledge about them is new … for the American bike industry,” Otto said. “We’ve just now seen a resurgence in popularity among the public [and] mechanical education has taken a little bit of time to bring that into the fold of what they would normally learn in an apprenticeship in a bike shop or through more formal education.”
Program staff mechanics from Waterside Workshops and a team of 20 youth interns — mostly low-income Berkeley residents who received training on professional bike repair — assembled the fleet of e-bikes, installing flat tire and theft prevention materials including tube sealant and seat leashes.
Once the e-bikes were distributed, interns assisted with quarterly repairs and safety checks and got more practice fixing used bicycles — which were then distributed to and assisting community members at Waterside Workshop’s DIY open shop workspace.
