Cedar Rapids piloting program to subsidize bikes, electric bikes for low-income households

CEDAR RAPIDS — Certain low-income households in Cedar Rapids may have some support getting around town with a city-funded program that will subsidize the cost of purchasing a bike or electric bike.

The city of Cedar Rapids is piloting a program to give vouchers to eligible households toward purchasing a bike or e-bike at local shops.

The 78 income-eligible households in the Family Self-Sufficiency Program may seek vouchers. This program offers individualized goal planning and meetings with family specialists to reduce Section 8 tenants’ dependency on welfare and other public assistance programs, improving their economic independence.

The vouchers are $700 for a bike and $900 for an e-bike. The vouchers also may cover safety-related equipment such as helmets and locks. According to the city, the program was budgeted for $35,000 over the course of two fiscal years, totaling $70,000.

“What you’re doing is giving people the keys to their freedom so that they can move around,” Cedar Rapids City Council member Ashley Vanorny said in a council Development Committee meeting this week.

“It would be nice just to be able to blink and say we have this many more bus routes, but it’s a lot harder than just wanting that to happen,” Vanorny added. “This gets us out into those neighborhoods where bus service may never get or may be coming in the future.”

Sustainability Program Manager Sara Maples said the program will reduce fuel and maintenance costs for families working toward financial independence while helping them travel to work, appointments and social services.

For the city, Maples said the program advances Cedar Rapids’ health, climate action and transportation goals while building community. It also supports investments the city has made to expand bike infrastructure with on-street bike lanes and a regional trail network.

She said Cedar Rapids’ pilot effort was informed by Denver’s electric bicycle program. That initiative found e-bikes produced only 3 percent of the operational emissions as electric vehicles, and 1 percent of the operational emissions as internal combustion engine vehicles.

Additionally, income-qualified residents used their e-bikes twice as much as those with higher incomes, Maples said, “which supports our decisions in Cedar Rapids to pilot the program with the FSS families.”

Housing Authority Supervisor Laura Shaw said eligible bike shops must have a brick-and-mortar location in Cedar Rapids. Families will receive educational materials about safety and usage, as well as a map of bikeways. The families will agree to usage surveys throughout the year and must retain their bike or e-bike for at least one year.

Shaw said staff will evaluate the program from April 2024 through March 2025 and develop a report showing the program results.

Staff will look to understand the rationale for why a family redeemed a bike or e-bike, usage levels and the value the program provided to participants. These results will guide the future direction of potential other programs, she said.

The nine-member city council is slated to consider the program in October. Vendor applications from bike shops will be submitted in November, then FSS families will be able to apply in December. Maples said bike vendors will work with families to ensure they are set up correctly with their bike with ongoing maintenance support.

From January to March 2024, approved families will be notified their application was approved and may redeem a bike voucher.

“The bike shops tend to be a little bit slower,” Shaw said. “It’s an economic advantage for the bike shops, and also allows the bike owners and the bike shops to spend a little more time with the families to really help meet their needs.”

Council member Ann Poe, chair of the Development Committee, said staff should work to find ways to fill transportation gaps or further support Horizons’ Neighborhood Transportation Service in the winter months “to keep our people mobile and get them where they need to go in a timely fashion in order to live their lives productively and efficiently and effectively.”

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