One hundred thirty-six residents applied for e-bike rebates through the city’s second consecutive spring rebate program. Eighty of those residents were randomly selected to receive rebates, and there’s a chance several more rebates will still be awarded.
Out of 10 residents who have received their rebates, the rebates paid for half the new e-bikes in full, said Marty Pool, Durango sustainability manager.
The rebates range from $500 to $1,500. The lower an applicant’s annual income, the higher their rebate.
People are still submitting their rebates to the city, Pool said. Leftover funding from rebates that weren’t used in full will be placed back into the program fund and, if there are enough available, could be awarded in rebates to more residents who were not initially selected.
The city’s rebate program was modified from the city’s 2023 program to home in on residents earning at or below La Plata County’s area median income, which is $83,200 for a two-person household. Pool said the pool of applicants shows that was the right call.
About 70% of applicants were earning below 60% area median income, or $49,920 for a two-person household, he said. Many applicants said on their rebate applications they are concerned about their vehicle’s reliability, unsure how they’d get to work or afford repairs if their car were to breakdown.
The rebate program this year tripled in funding from last year. Durango City Council directed $50,000 from the city’s lodgers tax fund to the program. The city also received a $100,000 grant from the Colorado Energy Office’s Local Government Community E-Bike Rebate Grant Program.
Pool said more people converting to bike riding translates to fewer vehicles on the road and on the streets.
A bike rack with eight bikes locked to it represents half a city block’s worth of parked cars, he said. All of the bikes locked downtown on a given day represent hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars saved on parking infrastructure.
cburney@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story misstated how many bicycles parked downtown represent hundreds of thousands of dollars or more saved on road and parking infrastructure.
