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Our coalition is building on the success of the City of Berkeley's Berkeley E-bike Equity Project (BEEP), which provided e-bikes and ridership support to eligible households for a one year pilot to increase mobility access with a clean transportation option. 56 Berkeley income-qualified households received an e-bike while providing feedback and data to study impacts, with measurable wins around reduced car trips, reduced emissions, reduced transportation costs, and improved quality of life. You can read the full final report here.
Funded through a one-time grant from the City of Berkeley’s Climate Equity Pilot, BEEP was oversubscribed 10:1, demonstrating huge demand from our neighbors for financial and logistical support in making the switch to e-bikes as a core form of transportation in our community. We are seeing this every day with Berkeleyans of all different backgrounds - here's a video from our coalition partners at Walk Bike Berkeley about a Berkeley family that is now using ebikes to get to school, work, shopping, and independence:
E-bikes are also a powerful tool for building community. One of the participants in the BEEP pilot shared their experiences with their e-bike this way: "I've discovered that the bicycle is an anti-cynicism machine. When I'm on my bike, riding through the neighborhood, I can't help but feel alive and connected to other people. I pay more attention to the sights and sounds around me; I look people in the eye. I love zooming down empty streets and slowing down for pedestrians. It delights me when people communicate with me and each other on the road — hand signals, head nods, a wave of an arm. The little courtesies are gestures of community. Even the bike infrastructure — the bike boulevards and bike lanes and those special bike traffic lights by North Berkeley BART — are a reminder, to me, that we are trying to build a place where we are all safe and healthy and able to live with one another."
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