Atlanta's first e-bike rebate initiative called roaring success

Leaders of Atlanta’s first e-bike rebate program say it’s generated an impressive wave of interest from diverse applicants across the city.

According to the Atlanta Regional Commission, 8,888 people—or more than 2 percent of the city’s entire adult population—applied for e-bike rebates of up to $2,000 prior to the program’s June 23 deadline for the first round of awards.

ARC, which is administering the program, says the first batch of 413 recipients for discounts on electric bicycles has now been picked via lottery, with selectees currently being notified.

Three-quarters of the $500,000 in rebates issued are going to Atlantans with low-to-moderate incomes, according to ARC officials.

The Atlanta City Council in January approved a $1 million investment to establish the city’s e-bike rebates—the first in Georgia, and just the third for any city in the Southeast—as a means of providing more affordable transportation options, thinning out traffic congestion, and improving air quality in the city.  

Income-qualified Atlanta residents are eligible to receive $1,500 rebates for standard e-bikes, or $2,000 for larger cargo e-bikes with additional room for passengers, groceries, or other loads. (Americans generally spend around $2,000 on their first e-bike purchase, according to eBicycles, though cheaper and much more expensive models are out there.)

The rebates are capped at one per City of Atlanta resident, and all e-bikes must be bought from a participating, brick-and-mortar local bike shop, with a dozen of them to choose from.

In a program update, ARC officials report that bike shop owners throughout the city “say they’ve been flooded with interest in the program … [and] some customers who heard about the program were even persuaded to buy an e-bike without even applying for a rebate.”

Of the nearly 9,000 applicants so far, 44 percent reported being income-qualified, meaning they earn at or below 80 percent of the metro’s median household income. The program’s income limit varies, based on the size of households, but starts at $60,200 for individuals.

According to ARC data, neighborhoods on Atlanta’s west and south sides saw the largest share of income-qualified applicants, with about 30 percent of them reporting they don’t own a vehicle, compared to 7 percent of other applicants.

About 44 percent of those applicants said they mostly wanted an e-bike to commute to work, versus 30 percent of the general applicant pool.

If you weren’t picked in the first lottery round, hope isn’t lost.

According to ARC officials, another application window is tentatively scheduled to open by late August (with selections the following month), followed by another window in the fall. More details over here.

According to Propel ATL, a local nonprofit that advocates for safe pedestrian and bike infrastructure in the city, a rebate program of $5 million would have been needed to ensure that all applicants to date would have had a 50/50 shot at being picked via lottery.

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