A new program offering low-income Californians up to $2,000 off the cost of an electric bike ran out of vouchers less than an hour after its launch earlier this month.
The program funded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is intended to help the state reduce car travel and greenhouse gas emissions. It began accepting applications at 6 p.m. on Dec. 18, but the application portal was closed only 45 minutes later after all 1,500 vouchers were allocated.
"The first round of the launch points to an incredible demand for alternative forms of transportation and a willingness to use cleaner mobility options," CARB spokesperson Lys Mendez said in a statement. "We will be doing future rounds of vouchers, and next steps on that will be informed by the lessons learned from this first round."
In a cycling forum on Reddit, users vented frustrations about the lengthy application and paltry number of vouchers for a state of 39 million people. Others have noted the program's delayed rollout and troubled nonprofit administrator, Pedal Ahead. The San Diego Union-Tribune has reported the nonprofit's founder and former chief executive, Edward Clancy, is the subject of both criminal and civil investigations.
"Any further information about future launches will be available via the project website and announced through other outlets such as our network of community organization and CARB’s various public communication tools," Mendez said.
