Was super excited to win the Washington E-Bike $300 rebate and pretty much immediately realized why 75% of winners don’t use theirs.
You can only buy from specific bike shops in Washington, and they need to match certain safety qualifications. This pretty much excludes all the affordable commuter and foldable EBikes on the market.
Only certain bikes qualify for the program at all and they’re almost all pricier models where $300 wouldn’t make or break the purchase.
Overall it seems like the program is primarily designed to get people in the door at local bike shops and stimulate the local economy. This is fine, but I think the program should prioritize people actually purchasing EBikes first and foremost. The only semi-cheap option is available at one of these stores and I might buy it if the test drive blows my mind but it’s more likely than not that I will not wind up with an E-Bike despite winning the voucher. There are similar quality bikes online that I could buy on sale for a steeper discount than this voucher would give me.
The $1200 voucher seems great, maybe they should just do more of those and scrap the $300 altogether.
edit: 75% not 80%
submitted by /u/AdScared7949
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