Since 2019, through the Environmental Fund, the government has been supporting the purchase of bicycles, but never with a budget as high as the one planned for this year: 1 million euros will be set aside for two wheelsThis is almost triple the 400,000 euros budgeted in 2020. The government's support can be combined with that of the Lisbon City Council (CML), as happened last year.
According to Dinheiro VivoThe cake of 1 million euros will be distributed as follows:
- 650,000 euros for electric bikes and electric motorcycles. The Environmental Fund lumps all two-wheelers together in the same category; in 2020, the budget was 350,000 euros;
- 300,000 euros for electric and non-electric cargo bikes - is a new category of the Environmental Fund;
- 50,000 euros for conventional (non-electric) bicycles - there is an increase in the contribution per bicycle.
The government will support it:
- 20% of the value of conventional bicycles up to a limit of 100 euros - last year, the co-payment was only 10%; Lisbon City Council supports 50%, so if you buy a bike that costs 200 euros, you could get 100 euros from CML and 20 euros from the government;
- 50% of the value of electric bicycles up to a limit of 350 euros - CML's support is the same percentage, so, for example, for a bicycle costing 700 euros, you could receive 350 from CML and 350 from the government, leaving you with a 100% bicycle;
- 50% of the value of conventional cargo bikes up to a limit of 500 euros - if you buy a non-electric cargo bike for 1,000 euros, you can receive 500 euros from the government and 300 from CML (the municipality supports 50% of the value up to 300 euros);
- 50% of the value of electric cargo bikes up to a limit of 1000 euros - an electric cargo bike that costs 2,000 euros can be subsidized by the government to the tune of 1,000 euros and by CML to the tune of 500 euros (CML supports 50%s worth up to 500 euros).
MUBi - Association for Urban Mobility by Bicycle congratulates, through a statement on Facebookthe increase in the budget to support the purchase of bicycles, "after, and following the work carried out by MUBi together with other organizations, the State Budget for 2019 introduced incentives for the purchase of electric bicycles with an amount of 250 thousand euros". "However, the amount that the State provides for the whole country is only 1/3 of what the Lisbon City Council provides for the municipality of Lisbon alone, and much lower than the support for active modes that many European countries have launched or strengthened in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as the 230 million euros that Italy allocated in 2020 to the bonus-bici program."
The differences in support by type of bicycle have to do with the fact that some are more expensive than others, such as electric bikes in general or cargo bikes. It should be noted that the support from the Government and Lisbon City Council has some differences: the council, for example, only supports bicycles for city use and that are bought in physical stores in the city; the support from the Environmental Fund has no such restrictions and also includes online commerce.
The municipality has not yet opened applications for this year's support, nor has it detailed the new rules - as there are changes compared to 2020. Support from the Environmental Fund is not yet available either, but they will open this weekapplications will be open until November 30 or until the budget is exhausted, and will be analyzed in the order in which they are submitted. through thewith priority depending on the vehicle in question - on two wheels, it will be cargo bikes, then electric bikes, followed by motorcycles and finally conventional bikes. Individuals can only submit one application, while companies can submit up to four.
