Essential Wheels™ is growing!
50 commuter e-bikes coming to Redwood City
Manzanita Works is honored to be a recipient of Measure A/W grant funding from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority to expand our inventory of e-bike loaners for essential workers!
Essential Wheels™ is our bike loaner program in which essential workers, especially those experiencing financial hardship, can borrow an e-bike or pedal bike for free on a monthly basis for up to one year. Co-sponsored by the City of Redwood City and with community support from the Manzanita Coalition and the Friendly Acres Neighborhood Association, we are pleased to be working with the team at Summit Bicycles to significantly expand our current program, which launched earlier this year. Thank you to additional sponsors Greystar and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative who supported our grant application.
Program participants in Essential Wheels™ can pick up a "commuter" style class 2 e-bike from our service provider Summit Bicycles, which has four locations from San Jose to Burlingame. Program participants have access to a number of benefits from program sponsors and collaborators that include:
- free monthly use of an e-bike and lock, renewable up to one year;
- free access to an e-bike safety e-course developed by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and People For Bikes;
- free bicycle roadside assistance up to a 30-mile radius from Better World Club;
- waived initial fees to open a savings account from Provident Credit Union and access free financial wellness resources;
- discounts on helmet purchases from our vendor network;
- discounts on e-bike and pedal bike purchases from our vendor network;
- information on e-bike regulations, rides and routes from People For Bikes; and
- information on local and California e-bike purchase rebates, as available.
To date, essential workers in our program are self-reporting an average monthly savings of $215.00 from commuting with an e-bike!
"It's really a wonderful program, in that it's provided flexibility to allow me to experience what an e-bike is like to ride and maintain, both of which have been easy and enjoyable."
- Teacher commuting from Mountain View to Alum Rock School District
The commuter e-bikes we are now acquiring for our fleet inventory will have a live or work preference for Redwood City so if you are an essential worker who either lives in Redwood City or who commutes to serve the Redwood City community and would like to try commuting with an e-bike, this is your opportunity to try an e-bike for your commute alternative to driving alone in your car.
If you don't live or work in Redwood City, we do have some non-restricted e-bikes in our inventory thanks to a separate grant from Grace Lutheran Church in Palo Alto. Reach out and we can add you to the list as more e-bikes become available.
In addition to City of Redwood City's co-sponsorship and our San Mateo County Transportation Authority grant, we thank our sponsors Greystar, Sand Hill Property Company, Provident Credit Union, Motorcycle Safety Foundation, Better World Club, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and individual donors for this phase of our program implementation.
Want to participate in this program? Fill out the Interest List form or check out our program website and click the link at the bottom of the page.
