{"id":26976,"date":"2024-06-25T20:43:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T20:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/80-residents-purchase-new-rides-through-durangos-spring-e-bike-rebate-program\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:48:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:48:33","slug":"80-residents-purchase-new-rides-through-durangos-spring-e-bike-rebate-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/80-residents-purchase-new-rides-through-durangos-spring-e-bike-rebate-program\/","title":{"rendered":"80 residents purchase new rides through Durango\u2019s spring e-bike rebate program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sebastian
Sebastian Farrell at Pedal the Peaks in Durango works on an Aventon Soltera.2 model e-bike. Its top speed is 20 mph and it has a motor power of 350 watts, integrated turn signal lights, can ride up to 46 miles on a full charge and can carry up to 300 pounds, according to Aventon\u2019s website. The Soltera.2 is selling well at Pedal the Peaks through the city of Durango\u2019s e-bike rebate program, reducing its price tag of $1,000 to more reasonable prices for lower income earners. (Wyatt Richards\/Special to the Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One hundred thirty-six residents applied for e-bike rebates through the city\u2019s second consecutive spring rebate program. Eighty of those residents were randomly selected to receive rebates, and there\u2019s a chance several more rebates will still be awarded.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The rebates range from $500 to $1,500. The lower an applicant\u2019s annual income, the higher their rebate.<\/p>\n

People are still submitting their rebates to the city, Pool said. Leftover funding from rebates that weren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s rebate program was modified from the city\u2019s 2023 program to home in on residents earning at or below La Plata County\u2019s area median income, which is $83,200 for a two-person household. Pool said the pool of applicants shows that was the right call.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s reliability, unsure how they\u2019d get to work or afford repairs if their car were to breakdown.<\/p>\n

The rebate program this year tripled in funding from last year. Durango City Council directed $50,000 from the city\u2019s lodgers tax fund to the program. The city also received a $100,000 grant from the Colorado Energy Office\u2019s Local Government Community E-Bike Rebate Grant Program.<\/p>\n

Pool said more people converting to bike riding translates to fewer vehicles on the road and on the streets.<\/p>\n

A bike rack with eight bikes locked to it represents half a city block\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vouchers provided to lower income earners to promote cheaper, cleaner, alternative transportation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[657,950,28,1351,1526,259],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cycling","tag-durango","tag-headlines","tag-public-finance","tag-taxation-and-budget","tag-transportation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79532,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26976\/revisions\/79532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26976"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}