The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Would love to see this get pushed out in June”
[ By Kendra Walker ]
The Mt. Crested Butte town council is considering initiating an electric bike rebate, or “E-bate,” program that would give residents of Mt. Crested Butte a rebate from the purchase of an e-bike.
Councilmember Steve Morris presented the idea at the April 4 town council meeting. In a memo to the council, he wrote, “Multi-modal transportation to relieve road traffic and parking issues is a major focus for Mt. CB and our partners at Mountain Express and the Town of Crested Butte. An E-bate program aligns with Mt. CB’s strategic, climate and master plans. Adoption of this program now would allow us to include e-bike charging stations in new developments (The Village) as well as integrate charging stations near/around the base area by summer 2024.”
Morris said that Denver rolled out a similar program and of 100 rebate recipients tracked, 70% of recipients ride daily.
According to the town finance department, Morris said an E-bate program qualifies for funding out of the town’s admission tax collections, specifically the portion the town withholds for its transportation needs. “There is currently $250,000 available in our transportation fund from admission tax,” he said.
The rest of the council liked the idea. “I think it’s brilliant,” said councilmember Dwayne Lehnertz. “It’s a good idea and we should start it up immediately.”
Councilmember Michael Bacani agreed and noted that he would also like to see a similar rebate program that encourages people to conserve water in their homes, such as replacing toilets and shower heads.
The council agreed that there should be a Mt. Crested Butte residency requirement in order to qualify. Staff plans to research other programs for data and ideas and the council will consider other requirements, such as amount of credit, qualifying products, program budget and timeline for implementation, at an upcoming meeting.
“In a community like ours, I think there’s a ton of benefits to encouraging people to get on e-bikes,” said Morris. “I would love to see this get pushed out in June.”
