Shoreline’s E-Bike rebates reduced pollution

E-Bikes parked at the Shoreline Costco bike rack
Photo by Oliver J Moffat

By Oliver J Moffat

Shoreline residents who got an e-bike last year drove less and polluted less. More e-bike rebates are available. 

Shoreline gave 125 e-bikes to residents in the city’s most polluted neighborhoods in Ridgecrest and Briarcrest last year. 

Those e-bike recipients drove less, reducing tons of climate pollution.

Last year’s e-bike recipients reduced their car usage, driving an average of 1.3 fewer days per week. 

They replaced about 2.26 car trips per week, totaling about 859 fewer vehicle miles per year for each rider, said the Pedal Forward Shoreline Final Report.

Collectively, that prevented an estimated 43 metric tons of CO₂ from being spewed annually, said the report. 

To remove that much climate pollution from the air, thousands of mature trees would need to be planted, based on MIT and USDA data for how much CO₂ a single tree absorbs each year.

An e-bike hauling free trees from Shoreline’s communi-trees event 
Photo by Oliver J Moffat

Shoreline’s Pedal Forward program will again be giving out e-bike rebates, fully funded by a State Department of Ecology $125,000 grant, according to recent city budget documents.

Shoreline residents can apply for a $500 e-bike rebate, and low-income residents can get $1,500 rebates.

In addition, all Washington residents can apply for an e-bike rebate from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

Washington residents, age 16 and older, can apply for a WSDOT rebate of $300 or $1,200 depending on household income on eligible e-bikes. 

Most climate pollution in Shoreline spews from tailpipes: 55% of climate pollution comes from transportation.

Shoreline’s Climate Action Plan seeks to reduce miles driven per person 20% by 2030 and 50% by 2050 to cut that pollution down.

According to the Shoreline Climate Action Plan 2025 Year In Review, there was a 16% decrease in miles driven per person per day compared to the 2019 baseline.