Thursday, 28 March 2024
Electric BikesEV NewslegislationNewsPolitics

To tackle school run traffic Hawaii puts up bike and eBike subsidy for youth

A new bill has landed in Hawaii that is deliberately targeting school run traffic by engaging the youth with a bike and eBike subsidy of up to $2,000.

The policy started on the doorstep when politician Karl Rhoads came knocking as part of the election cycle. Resident Matthew Rittenhouse put forward the idea that an effective way to tackle school run traffic would be to incentivise the youth to cycle, with some emphasis placed on electric bikes as a solution that would further engage pupils.

Rittenhouse told CI.N: “Last election cycle Mr. Karl Rhoads was knocking on doors in my neighborhood, looking for votes. We ended up talking about the roads and traffic here in Honolulu. I told him about my idea that the state should give every high school student in Hawaii a free eBike. My thought was that this would reduce traffic, increase awareness for bicycles, help keep our teens fit, and maybe create some life long cyclist. I also figured the local bike shops would support this as it could be a sales and service boon for them.”

Fast forward to this week and a bill has appeared moving the proposal toward becoming a reality, with a substantial $2 million a year budget attached to the idea. The bill proposes that any student that wishes to take up the offer will have access to funding. The act, already signed off by Karl Rhoads, is set to come into effect from July 1st.

“The bicycle grant program shall provide a one—time grant up to $2,000 to each eligible student for the purchase of an electric bicycle or non—electric bicycle,” reads the bill, which adds that the funds will be “appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii; the sum of $2,000,000 or so much
thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023—2024 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024—2025 for the establishment, administration, and funding of the bicycle grant program.”

The Hawaiian bike and eBike subsidy runs in stark contrast to broader federal policy, which has defunded proposed subsidies for eBikes and instead kept cash for eCars.