The Electric Station Bike Program was a 22-month project that demontrated the feasibility of using an electric-assist bicycle and public transportation as an alternative to the automobile. The project also demonstated the use of solar energy to recharge the electric bicycle batteries. Bikestation Long Beach made ten (10) electric bicycles available to Long Beach residents, downtown employers, and public transit riders. For a small application processing fee of $20.00, participants enrolled in a membership program that included unlimited free use of an electric bicycle for any 24-hour period. The participants also earned incentives and were provided free commuter and safety training courses. Program participants were not assigned a specific electric bicycle, but instead had access to the entire fleet. Once a member used and returned the bicycle to Bikestation, a recharged battery was installed and the bicycle was made available to other participants. This allowed the electric bicycles to be used throughout the day for a variety of trips, thus maximizing shared mobility. During the demonstration period of January 2000 through August 2001, the program logged 393 individual bicycle check-outs. This resulted in a reduction in automobile vehicle miles traveled (VMT) of approximately 12,706 miles.
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The Long Beach area of Los Angeles County directly benefited from the reduction in automobile trips and exhaust emissions. Since ozone precursor emissions are transported, other areas of the South Coast AQMD also benefited from this project.
The emission reductions resulting from implementation and continuation of the electric bicycle program are as follows: Reactive Organic Gases (ROG): 14.3 pounds per year; Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx): 12.1 pounds per year; Carbon Monoxide (CO): 113.3 pounds per year; and Particulate Matter (PM10): 12.6 pounds per year.
In addition to a detailed program description and results summary, the Final Report includes several appendices and copies of all marketing materials, participation agreement forms, press releases, newspaper articles, and bicycle check-out logs.