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jabroni2020 t1_jcmud1e wrote

Ideally this can make e-bikes more accessible and cut off the idea that biking is just for rich hipsters.

And to people saying they should spend this money building out biking infrastructure - they are already trying to build 10 miles of bike lanes per year. if anything, this creates more advocates to speed those processes up.

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ertri t1_jcncmxh wrote

E bikes are already stupid cheap tho! At least compared to cars

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MoreCleverUserName t1_jcnhyqr wrote

If you think a $600 e-bike is stupidly cheap then you’re not the demographic that will benefit the most from this.

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ertri t1_jcon9zu wrote

What’s the cheapest car you can get? What do new car tires cost? Ebikes are a stupid cheap car replacement.

$600 (agree with another poster that that’s way too cheap) is like 6-8 months of car insurance.

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MoreCleverUserName t1_jcowfph wrote

$600 still isn’t CHEAP for a whole lot of people though. It’s not about the price of the car you’re comparing it to. It’s about the value of $600 that a whole lot of people don’t have just laying around.

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ayeuimryan t1_jcp3hjr wrote

600 isnt getting u an ebike that u can commute to work every day ? Maybe

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ertri t1_jcpoiy2 wrote

Ok then what do those people do literally anytime their car needs anything? Literally compared it to a car price. What can you get for your car that’s $600? Like a few new tires?

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jabroni2020 t1_jcnfafs wrote

Yes but I don’t think most people see e-bikes as car replacements. Ideally that changes with a real bike network and better chances of not dying while biking though

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Usernameistaken00 t1_jcmn7or wrote

Bike thieves rubbing their hands together in anticipation.

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jabroni2020 t1_jcmtt7f wrote

Hopefully locks can be included in the program!

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lDontFuckWithCondoms t1_jcmv8d4 wrote

Brushless angle grinder and a diamond blade you can cut into any lock in less then 2 minutes

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CriticalStrawberry t1_jcny5w6 wrote

Hiplock D1000 and Litelocks actually have quite good angle grinder defense. But they're not cheap.

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dc_co t1_jcs59wf wrote

Scamming ebike rebates too. Buy a bike at a discount and resell it for the profit.

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AlphaStormyFire t1_jcma4l1 wrote

Anyone know what is considered low income?

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tshontikidis t1_jcmx2dt wrote

I saw somewhere it’s tied to how Snap benefits are measured

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Surefinewhatever1111 t1_jcmallv wrote

It will be in the final bill, but they should be using AMI. Guessing, since it's Chuckles, it will be set at 100% AMI or even higher.

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deeplybrown t1_jcqn9li wrote

This is great news. Car-obsessed cyclist haters are too myopic in their thinking to realize that this benefits them in the long run as well.

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BPCGuy1845 t1_jcq9lyc wrote

Maybe the city could fix the horrific pavement conditions so that it is safe to ride a bike?

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skintwo t1_jcr6fum wrote

Two THOUSAND?! Folks will buy bikes and just sell 'em. Come on.

Give all low income folks a free bikeshare membership. Much safer than a lot of the ebikes that have been flooding the market recently that have unsafe brakes/batteries.

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Zwillium t1_jct415m wrote

>Give all low income folks a free bikeshare membership

There's already a $5/year + unlimited 60 minute ebike rides for low income folks.

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LissetteLovesBats t1_jcreqvw wrote

Oh sure like the $100 monthly stipend for metro users that never happened. 🙄

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PballQhead t1_jcq7n6r wrote

Shit, sign me up! Not an ebike fan at all but you're telling me I can get a dope Specialized eMTB for like $500, what's not to like??

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lDontFuckWithCondoms t1_jcm7d8x wrote

Money Better spent fixing biking infrastructure and building bike lanes. DC council is pandering to erratic drivers who hate cyclists

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aNeonSpecter OP t1_jcm83zx wrote

I agree, if you build the infrastructure biking riding will increase on it's own

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[deleted] t1_jcm8ytt wrote

[deleted]

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aNeonSpecter OP t1_jcmasmv wrote

There have been studies done about latent demand with regards to biking infrastructure. It works the same as it does with cars, you build more lanes and demand will increase to meet the new supply. If you build more and better biking infrastructure and make it a more attractive alternative to cars people will gradually end up choosing to bike more. I can link some articles if you want.

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lDontFuckWithCondoms t1_jcme2vu wrote

I'm only going off my experience Riding in this city. However, I'd be interested to take a look at those articles that you mention

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aNeonSpecter OP t1_jcmmsh7 wrote

These are some that I found from some googling:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2024399118

https://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/geomatics/hochmair/pubs/hochmair_GI_forum2009.pdf

https://www.littlerock.gov/residents/bikeped-little-rock/why-bikeped/latent-demand/

https://trec.pdx.edu/research/project/583/Lessons_from_the_Green_Lanes:Evaluating_Protected_Bike_Lanes_in_the_U.S. (specifically the second "lessons" report)

Some of this research is a bit old, but it think it's still relevant.

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TruesteelOD t1_jcmqulh wrote

How is crafting policy to encourage more people to bike supposed to be pandering to drivers?

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lDontFuckWithCondoms t1_jcmsndk wrote

Because people who have outstanding tickets and drive recklessly have no interest in bike lanes, let alone riding a eBike

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TruesteelOD t1_jcmtf3z wrote

I really want to understand but that response was unreadable. Can you clarify?

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Veszerin t1_jcmjdlk wrote

How much is the DC Council getting in return? 🤨

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tshontikidis t1_jcmxu5p wrote

A good conscience that they are trying to pass good legislation.

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oxtailplanning t1_jcobw8e wrote

Right? Maybe they're getting traffic congestion relief, cleaner air, happier residents? Those bastards!!!

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ClammyAF t1_jcnrije wrote

More dead cyclists. Man, they'll create a tax incentive for anything.

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Surefinewhatever1111 t1_jcmagtz wrote

Council is pandering to upper middle class cyclists who can easily afford to buy their own. They're going to help those who don't need help again.

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tshontikidis t1_jcmwynj wrote

If they can easily afford it but don’t buy one, and then this rebate is put in place and they buy one it does it’s job. The goals is get more people to replace car trips with bikes.

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[deleted] t1_jcn2x87 wrote

[deleted]

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tshontikidis t1_jcn436o wrote

Yea that’s not how it works… you would never get more than you paid for the bike. There are also versions of the bill that have it so you need to by from a dc based bike shop who facilitates the rebate, no bike shops have those garbage AliExpress bikes. Now if you got a free or nearly free bike and never use it well then sucks to be you, but there are going to be others that do so i say we are still coming out ahead.

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