Electric bicycles as an equity planning tool: Philadelphia

I probably need to update this post, "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking," which lists 18 ways to promote in significant ways, the transition from driving to biking as a primary form of transportation.

There has been more reporting about people trading in cars for e-bikes, and public rebate and subsidy programs promoting the switch from gasoline-based transportation to electric-based transportation are increasingly recognizing the importance of including bikes as part of the mobility mix ("Governments Aim to Reduce the Big Barrier to E-Bike Adoption: The Price," Route 50).

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Not just for ‘the white guy in Lycra’: E-bikes are gaining popularity in Philly’s low-income communities of color," on the increased take up of biking because of bicycle sharing e-bikes in that city's poorer neighborhoods.

Maybe the upgrade in technology is important from a perception standpoint.  I remember a particularly vociferous argument I had with a black community organizer on biking.  He was unable to see bicycles as a viable form of transportation, instead more as a toy, or as something for white dilettantes, instead of as a viable means of getting around--something I had done in DC for 30 years.

From the article:

“To have them in your community, to be so visual in the community, [it’s] saying that ‘this is something that I have access to as well,’” said Graham, the president of the Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corporation. She and her group have hosted community bike rides and bicycle basics training classes and given out free helmets to Strawberry Mansion residents young and old.

“Someone else in a wealthier community can have access to these things, [and] so do I. That inclusion [is] super important.”

The city’s bike-share program is still growing; it just opened its 200th bike station in February. But historically, not everyone in Philly has embraced Indego’s bikes to the same extent. Indego and other bike-share programs around the country have struggled to bring in users from diverse racial and income backgrounds. The stereotypical bike-share rider is white, and fairly well-off.

But evidence shows that e-bikes may offer a solution. Indego’s fleet of e-bikes, bicycles with assisted motors to make pedaling easier, are becoming more popular in Philly’s predominantly Black, lower-income neighborhoods.

Although the article indicates that people still see the bikes as more about recreation, not actual transportation.  But that's something that can be addressed through the kind of programming discussed in "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking."