Why electric bikes are everywhere in Berkeley

"At around 7:30 on a typical weekday morning, Erin Smith hops on her e-bike and rides two blocks to the North Berkeley BART, where she catches a train to San Francisco, then rides three miles from Civic Center to her job at the Cal Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Around 8 a.m., Nat Binns maneuvers his cargo e-bike onto Woolsey Street in South Berkeley with his two children, Conor, 6 and Bridget, 3, in back."

"The e-bike makes the hills go away, Worthen said, and it doesn't use gas. But it's fun and easy and replaces the car. She even uses the bike to tote her cello. These riders are part of a growing legion of e-bike enthusiasts who can be seen all over town, hauling groceries, children or simply taking in the scenery, replacing cars with a more affordable and earth-friendly form of transport. That motivation to reduce the use of fossil fuels, as vehicle emissions are the leading driver of climate change locally and nationally has also spurred several government programs handing out rebates to make e-bikes affordable to low- and middle-income residents."

Berkeley residents use e-bikes for commuting, school drop-offs, errands and leisure, spanning ages from children to seniors. E-bikes enable multimodal trips that combine short rides with transit and make steep hills manageable, allowing users to replace cars for many trips. Cargo e-bikes carry children, groceries and instruments for families and individuals. Vehicle emissions are identified as a primary driver of climate change, motivating shifts to lower-emission transport. Local government rebate programs aim to increase e-bike affordability for low- and middle-income households. Over one-quarter of Berkeley households do not own a private vehicle, increasing reliance on alternatives.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org