Burlington's E-Bike Issue — Sustainable Transportation Vermont

Nov 3

Nov 3 Burlington's E-Bike Issue

The unfortunate truth is that the E-bike crisis in Burlington hasn’t gotten very far since the company known as Bolt ceased operations in June of this year. The city was left with close to 300 bikes that are technically still the property of Bolt. According to Josh Katz of CATMA (Chittenden Area Transportation Management Association), around 200 bikes are currently in a warehouse which Bolt was renting, and the rest are “on the ground.” The city is hoping to have a vendor take over operations by March or April of 2023.

Katz believes this is a reasonable goal for Burlington and is hopeful since biking is a sustainable alternative to driving a gas-powered vehicle. The University of Vermont, Champlain College, and the UVM Medical Center were all consumers of the bike share app and the E-bikes that were provided by the Bolt company.

As a student at UVM, I personally saw how popular these bikes were for individuals, so it is a shame to not have E-bikes on campus this year. For those who don’t have a car, it is a great way to get downtown and explore the Greater Burlington Area.

At the moment the city of Burlington is trying to figure out what to do with all these bikes. “One option is to donate them, but that's a little more complicated because everything in these bikes is proprietary. So it's not as easy as just putting any part in these bikes to fix them,” says Katz.

Most of the E-bikes in city possession are locked up. When you get the lock off of these bikes the wheels no longer move.

“It's just how it works. Even if you cut it, the wheel doesn't move,” acknowledges Katz.

I asked about Bolt to see if there has been any conversation since they ceased operations. Katz said that there still has been no communication between CATMA and the company.

Ideally, the city would like to see a local company take over the E-bike business, but realistically it’s not feasible in the short term. Katz goes on to mention the lack of storage space in the city. At the moment the toughest task is getting all E-bikes stored out of the elements. The bikes that were in the city’s right of way were removed immediately, but the bikes in the private domain take much longer to recover.

CATMA is doing their best to hear concerns from the public, along with local bike shop owners. Katz wants there to be a safe and successful bike system in Burlington by the spring. For those who don’t know, an E-bike battery is similar to any other battery pack. The bike has a spot to snap in the battery pack, and at the end of the day, you can remove the pack and recharge the battery.

“If our community wants a bike share system back we'll do everything in our power to get one,” says Katz.

I am personally hopeful that CATMA along with the city of Burlington can come together to provide a user-friendly bike-share option by this May.