Question: I’ve been trying to get more information on how to apply for the e-bike rebate program authorized by Act 306 and cannot find any information at the state Department of Transportation website. Do you know who should be contacted?
Q: How do we get the $500 rebate for buying an electric moped?
Answer: “The program is still being established. Details will be forthcoming once the application and administrative processes are set up,” said Shelly Kunishige, a spokesperson for the state DOT. She did not say how long that would take.
Act 306, which Gov. David Ige signed into law July 12, authorizes a rebate program that the DOT may hire a contractor to run. Each rebate will be 20% of the retail price or $500, whichever is lower, paid to an eligible adult who submits their receipt and other documentation within 12 months of purchasing a new electric bicycle or new electric moped from a retail store after July 1. The law limits total funding for this program to $700,000 per fiscal year and says no person may receive more than $500 each fiscal year.
Besides being at least 18, those eligible for rebates must be low-income, not own a car or be enrolled in school, community college or university, the law says. Read the law at 808ne.ws/Act306.
While numerous readers look forward to this incentive, others have expressed safety concerns, especially pedestrians who share sidewalks with pedal bicycles in nonbusiness districts on Oahu. Electric bikes aren’t allowed on sidewalks because they have motors, per Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-145(g). Nonetheless, we’ve received multiple complaints from pedestrians startled by an e-bike whizzing by; the rebate program will apply to e-bikes that can go up to 28 mph.
A study in the journal Injury Prevention found that e-bike-related injuries were more likely to involve a collision with a pedestrian than either powered scooters or pedal bicycles. It also found that e-bike-related injuries were significantly more likely to involve a collision with a motor vehicle, resulting in injuries requiring hospitalization.
“While population-based rates of pedal bicycle-related injuries have been decreasing, particularly among children, reported e-bike injuries have been increasing dramatically, particularly among older persons,” said the study, 808ne.ws/bmjjournal. It concluded “that while electric-powered two-wheeled devices like e-bikes and powered scooters represent new opportunities for transportation and more active mobility, there are important health and safety challenges. Their benefits in terms of environmentally friendlier, sustainable transportation are attractive, but their use carries undeniable injury risks. The more that is known, the better communities can control those risks while retaining the benefits.”
Q: My daughter is going to the mainland, possibly for a year or more. Can she park her moped at our house while she’s gone, or should we keep her registration current?
A: She can’t avoid the annual registration fee by putting the moped in storage, according to the Honolulu County Department of Customer Services. If she lets the registration lapse and wants to resume driving the moped when she returns, she would have to pay all outstanding and current registration fees, it says.
Mahalo
Mahalo to bus driver Lisa, driving a Route 66 bus on the Windward side. She called my residence to say that my husband’s wallet was found on the bus. She said she would drop off the wallet if I could meet her at a nearby bus stop as she was coming from Kaneohe to Kailua. Such good service by TheBus company. Mahalo to Lisa! — Grateful senior
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
