Subsidizing e-bikes is cheaper, more popular, healthier and more future-oriented than subsidizing electric cars.

When Denver launched a program to subsidize e-bikes last year, it was overwhelmed within 10 minutes. Denver drastically underestimated demand and only gave out 600 vouchers, but even then that’s a demand on par with Taylor Swift’s concert ticket. The number of vouchers was increased to more than 4,700. Getting city residents out of their cars and onto bikes is a bit of a chicken-and-egg proposition, but when residents see the city itself getting on board, it can make a big difference.

“When it comes to subsidizing, e-bikes have a clear advantage over electric cars. Not only are e-bikes more affordable and accessible to a broader population, but the infrastructure needed to support them is also significantly less expensive. By incentivizing e-bike adoption, we can empower city dwellers to embrace a greener, more cost-effective mode of transportation,” Omkar Pandit of Mountain Bike Buzz told Lifewire via email.

To meet climate and pollution goals, cities need to reduce car use. One way to do that is to shift that pollution elsewhere by replacing gasoline-powered cars with electric cars. One way to do that is to offer subsidies to car buyers to entice them to go electric. That’s an easy sell. People can just keep doing what they’ve always done and trust that the city will use public money to build the necessary charging infrastructure.