California clean-air officials have ended the statewide electric-bike program that was badly botched by a San Diego nonprofit and left thousands of applicants frustrated and angry.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the California Air Resources Board blamed \u201cbudget constraints\u201d for closing out what was called the California E-Bike Incentive Project<\/a>, which got more than $30 million to support subsidies of up to $2,000 for thousands of eligible riders.<\/p>\n Most of the e-bike funds were diverted to another state climate-change program that is designed to help lower-income Californians replace their high-polluting cars with plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to state budget constraints, CARB is moving $18 million of funding previously earmarked for the California E-Bike Incentive Project to the regional Clean Cars 4 All<\/a> programs to ensure funding is available,\u201d spokesperson Bradley Branan said by email.<\/p>\n The state air board did not respond to follow=up questions about the flawed administration of the e-bike program or two investigations into Pedal Ahead<\/a>, the San Diego nonprofit selected to manage the effort whose website is now suspended.<\/p>\n Moving the $18 million to the clean-cars promotion all but ends the ambitious state e-bike program that was modeled after a pilot project first promoted by the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG.<\/p>\n The regional planning agency in 2022 put Pedal Ahead in charge of a local e-bike program that sought to reduce greenhouse gases by encouraging people to rely on electric bikes instead of cars for short, routine trips.<\/p>\n Even before the SANDAG project was in full swing, Pedal Ahead was chosen to manage the California effort. Later in 2022, it was awarded $10 million to promote electric bikes across the state.<\/p>\n But the rollout of the broader statewide program hit multiple snags, both at the air resources board and with Pedal Ahead.<\/p>\n The initial online signups were delayed by more than two years<\/a> and finally took place last December. When it opened, the website shut tens of thousands of people out of the system and closed within minutes.<\/p>\n The follow-up enrollment<\/a> in April was even worse, with officials ending the session due to what they called a security threat. The air resources board publicly apologized for the snafu and pledged to do better.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had over 150,000 people trying to get into the program, and we only have 1,000 vouchers,\u201d spokesperson Lisa Macumber told reporters during a briefing last year. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging. It\u2019s like getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert.\u201d<\/p>\n The following week, the state successfully awarded<\/a> 1,000 more vouchers worth up to $2,000 each \u2014 although that effort was managed by a new vendor.<\/p>\n The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported in June 2024 that the SANDAG e-bike initiative was troubled. Agency officials had begun investigating Pedal Ahead<\/a> early last year for failing to comply with terms of the grant it had been awarded two years earlier.<\/p>\n At the same time, the Union-Tribune reported, CARB was conducting its own review into Pedal Ahead\u2019s management, and criminal investigators at the California Department of Justice were scrutinizing the San Diego nonprofit.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the state Attorney General\u2019s Office listed Pedal Ahead as delinquent for failing to comply with regulations governing nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\n The Pedal Ahead founder, Edward Clancy, also opened a for-profit venture\u00a0called Pedal Ahead Plus to promote e-bikes, and was investigated for allegations of mixing his for-profit and nonprofit<\/a> business interests.<\/p>\n Clancy has not responded to questions from the Union-Tribune in more than a year. He did not respond again Friday.<\/p>\n But last year, after SANDAG resumed control of the program, he acknowledged some mistakes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe delivered up to a certain point \u2014 the product, the bikes, tracking mechanisms, etc.,\u201d he said in June 2024. \u201cThere was a point where they said \u2018OK, we\u2019re going to manage the contract from this point.\u201d<\/p>\n State officials, who have never commented on the criminal or civil investigations into Pedal Ahead, removed the nonprofit as manager of the state e-bike program earlier this year.<\/p>\n