City Grant Will Fund E-Bike Vouchers in Bend

It may be easier for some 75 Bendites to purchase an e-bike in spring 2023, when the funds from a grant become available to residents. The City of Bend in December won a $150,000 mobility grant from Pacific Power aimed at offering rebates of $2,000 that people in “transportation-disadvantaged, low-income households” can use to buy an e-bike.

The Giant Roam is among the e-bikes available from local retailers priced in the $2,000 range. Credit: Courtesy of Giant

The $2,000 each person gets will be directed toward local e-bike retailers, where participants will see the $2,000 automatically deducted from what their bike costs. E-bikes costing $2,000 or less were available at Bend retailers as of this writing, though most cost more in the range of $3,000-$5,000.

Applicants who live within Pacific Power’s customer area and who are considered low-income are eligible to apply when the lottery becomes available in the spring.

“Pacific Power is providing grant funding to help businesses, cities and nonprofits take advantage of the cost-saving, clean benefits of electric mobility,” stated a press release from the City of Bend.

“In places where rebates have been offered, riders have replaced more than three car trips a week with e-bikes,” Mayor Pro Tem Anthony Broadman stated in the release.

Commute Options — which operates with a mission to increase access to transportation options across Oregon —will disperse the grant funds directly to local e-bike retailers.

Funds for the grant came from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Clean Fuels Program.

This article appears in Source Weekly December 29, 2022.