Elk Grove's e-bike program gains speed as a community favorite
The results are in, and Elk Grove is saying its electric bike lending program is a big success. The e-bike effort is giving a jolt to people looking for an alternative way to get around town without having to rely on just pedal power.
The city launched an electric bike lending program last fall, and it's been on the road to success ever since.
"We have had over 600 requests now to borrow an e-bike since we launched at the beginning of September," said Kaley Lyons, Elk Grove's senior transportation planner.
Jeff Wagley, owner of Cadence Bike Shop, said that e-bikes are popular with nearly every age group.
"High schoolers, junior high schoolers, retired folks, people who just want to ride farther, get outside," Wagley said.
Elk Grove purchased 20 bikes for the lending program, using money from a $200,000 federal grant. The city surveyed riders on why they used the bikes.
"The top two reasons are recreation and also to run errands around town," Lyons said
"I've talked to people that say, 'We rode it every single day, we started riding it to school, started riding it to work, so I think people just really appreciate it,' " Wagley said
Since the lending launched, not a single e-bike has been stolen.
The city also offered vouchers up to $1,000 for people to buy a new e-bike.
"It was insane and we had so many people coming in," Wagley said. "All four bike shops in Elk Grove benefited from this."
A goal of the program is to improve air quality and prevent traffic jams.
The City of Elk Grove says that in just the first six months, people rode the bikes more than 1,600 miles and reduced more than 600 kilograms of CO2 emissions.
"An e-bike really lets you take those in-town trips that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and really reduce congestion on our streets as well," Lyons said. "The more people we get on bikes, the fewer cars we have on our roads."
Federal grant money for the lending program runs out in December, but the city council has approved continuing the program through at least June of next year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
31 minutes ago
- Forbes
How To Talk About Your Layoff Without Damaging Your Career
Layoffs eliminated over 221,000 jobs in Q1 2025, hitting government, tech, retail, accounting, ... More manufacturing and logistics sectors the hardest. Layoffs continue to impact a range of sectors with large-scale ripple effects, hitting government, tech, retail, accounting, manufacturing and logistics the hardest. More than 221,812 jobs were eliminated within the first quarter of the year. Economists at Deloitte have cited ongoing economic turmoil, federal funding cuts, tariffs, decelerated consumer spending, AI's widespread impact and cost-cutting measures as contributing factors. According to Clarify Capital's 2025 survey of 1,000 Americans, one in three people have anxiety about layoffs. Building job security and 'career insurance' for ourselves involves preparing for layoffs, including knowing how to talk about being laid off. Here are three tips to help you navigate this challenging situation—including 6 ways to discuss your layoff positively. When Layoffs Hit, Separate Role Elimination From Personal Performance The first thing to do is make sure you don't internalize your layoff as something that reflects poorly on you personally. Layoffs are business decisions that are fundamentally different from firing someone for poor performance. Mass layoffs impact multiple teams or departments—often stripping teams down to a 'skeleton crew' or eliminating them entirely. When layoffs occur across the board, companies are making structural changes—not assessing individual skill, ability or value. The first negotiation is with yourself: don't conflate the elimination of your role with personal performance issues. If you do, this will negatively impact how you position and present yourself for your next role. Take Time To Regroup Before Going Full-Force With Your Job Search You may feel the temptation to dive straight into a full-on job search. Resist that urge. If you don't take the time to process what happened and determine how you will intentionally move forward, you will continue to operate in a reactionary state of 'fight or flight,' which does not bode well for a successful job search. Take what time you can to regroup. Decide on a timeline and create a structure for this period of strategic reflection and planning to make the most of it. If you absolutely cannot take weeks to plan your next career moves, build in 'micro' breaks daily to process your emotions and avoid bottling them up. Even five or fifteen minutes a day to ground yourself and ensure that you don't internalize your layoff as a judgment on—or reflection of—you personally will help sustain your transition into your next role. Taking the time to prevent emotions from negatively impacting your job search will pay off as you transition into full-on job searching when it's time. How To Talk About Your Layoff When you share with your network that you're available for new opportunities, you don't need to mention the layoff unless the topic comes up naturally. However, if you're asked directly about why you left your previous role, be honest—never hide or lie about it. If you do discuss the layoff, frame it properly. Instead of saying, 'I was laid off,' or 'I was let go,' try: 'My role was eliminated as part of a company-wide restructuring,' 'My position was eliminated during a departmental reorganization,' or 'The organization underwent strategic changes that impacted multiple departments.' You can also reference business model changes or external forces: 'The company pivoted their business model and underwent a full reorg,' 'Due to industry changes, the company restructured several teams,' or 'The company underwent a merger and consolidated roles across departments.' The bottom line: layoffs reflect company-wide changes, decisions and shifts—not individual performance. Your Layoff Is Redirection, Not A Setback Layoffs have become an unavoidable reality in today's working world. While you can't control when they happen, you can still control your ability to process, respond and frame the experience of a layoff—both to yourself and to others. As anxiety-provoking and destabilizing as navigating layoffs may feel, what you offer the world through your efforts and labor is far greater than any one job or role. Sometimes external factors force our hand and push us toward opportunities that align better with our path. The unknown can be terrifying, even paralyzingly so. Yet it may also reveal possibilities that are perfectly suited to where you're meant to be—opportunities you might never have pursued otherwise.
Forbes
31 minutes ago
- Forbes
AI In Ground Transportation: Hype, Hesitation And The Road To Value
Amiad Solomon is the CEO and Founder of HQ, a leading platform for corporate ground transportation. AI is transforming nearly every industry, but adoption has been cautious in corporate ground transportation. Despite a growing ecosystem of AI-powered solutions, that hesitation isn't unfounded: Ground transportation is complex, high-stakes and often resistant to change. From my experience working in this space, I've seen how these challenges can slow innovation, but also how AI can create opportunities to overcome those very issues. The potential is clear. AI is fundamentally improving how we move people safely, efficiently and intelligently. Success in this space, though, depends on strategically aligning AI solutions with a company's unique needs. Why AI In Ground Transportation Corporate ground transportation is riddled with inefficiencies. Bookings are often fragmented across cities, suppliers and regions. Invoices arrive late or with errors. Spend visibility is poor. Travelers deal with inconsistent experiences. Plus, travel managers often fly blind. AI can help address these issues by offering the ability to predict outcomes, prevent fraud and optimize processes. This isn't just theory. It's already happening. AI is helping some of the world's most complex enterprises move employees, executives and guests across cities and continents with greater precision and control. Here are a few use cases: • Optimization: AI can streamline routing and dispatch across geographies in ways no human team could manage manually. • Cost Control: Intelligent systems can detect anomalies, flag out-of-policy rides and recommend vendors based on real-time pricing. • Rider Safety And Satisfaction: AI-enhanced travel involves technologies designed to reduce delays, tailor services to individual needs and enable proactive communication. • Sustainability tracking: Algorithms can help reduce emissions by optimizing vehicle usage and recommending eco-friendly options. • Time savings: Automated invoicing, compliance checks and data reconciliation can reduce back-office load. Mitigating Risks: Responsible AI Integration As with any innovation, though, AI comes with valid concerns. Here are a few that are holding companies back from adoption: • Data Privacy And Security: AI relies on data—location, behavior, transactions. Mishandled, this raises compliance and trust issues. • Black-Box Decisions: When AI makes routing or billing decisions, leaders may not always understand how or why. • Integration Hurdles: Many organizations still rely on legacy tools that don't play well with new tech. • Change Management: Getting teams to trust and adopt AI tools requires training, communication and, sometimes, culture shifts. The key is not to blindly adopt AI, but to thoughtfully implement it with a strategy and guardrails in place: • Govern your data. Only collect what's necessary, and ensure transparency around how it's used. Ensure opt-in AI application. • Maintain human oversight. AI should support—not replace—decision-makers. Flag anomalies, but let people verify. • Insist on explainability. Opt for vendors whose algorithms provide clear reasoning behind key decisions. • Start small. Pilot AI for a single market or function (like invoice automation), learn, then scale. • Choose strategic partners. Your providers should understand regulatory, operational and reputational risks surrounding AI in transportation. These improvements are about control, compliance and confidence at scale. When done right, AI creates measurable value for everyone involved for both riders, travel managers and back-office teams. What Leaders Should Do Now AI in ground transportation won't solve every challenge overnight, but it can help leaders bring order to a deeply fragmented system, which is critical to business operations and employee experience. Here's where to start: • Audit your current ecosystem. Where are the gaps? What's manual, slow, or error-prone? • Align your stakeholders. Finance, IT, operations, travel—AI adoption requires cross-functional collaboration. • Assess your data. Clean, centralized data is fuel for effective AI. • Evaluate vendors based on transparency, security and scalability. • Lead the shift. Create a culture that's open to smart automation—not resistant to it. In this space, innovation doesn't mean moving fast and breaking things. It means moving smarter—and leading with intention. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Corn Closes with Losses Despite Export Business
The corn market fell deeper into the Tuesday close, with contracts down 3 to 5 ¼ cents. The front month CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 3 cents at $3.93 1/4. Crude oil futures have given back much of the recent strength this week, down $3.50/barrel on Tuesday and more than $13 off the Monday high. USDA reported a private export sale of 630,000 MT of corn to Mexico this morning, with 554,400 MT for 2025/26 and 75,600 MT for 2026/27. Robusta Coffee Prices Are Still Falling. Are We Finally at an Inflection Point? Coffee Prices Plummet as Frost Risks in Brazil Subside Coffee Prices Slammed as Frost Risks in Brazil Recede Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines. USDA's Crop Progress report showed condition ratings down 2 percentage points to 70% good/excellent. The Brugler500 index was 3 points lower to 376 points. By state, the Western Corn Belt saw much of the decline, with CO dropping 30 points, as NE was down 7, with ND down 13 and TX slipping 16. Conditions in IN were down 7, with IA 3 points lower. Ratings improved in IL by 4, with MN up 3, and OH up 7. ANEC estimates the Brazilian corn exports in June at 828,959 MT, which is down from the 913,316 MT in the previous estimate. AgroConsult raised their second crop corn estimate for Brazil by a massive 10.4 MMT shift from last month to 123.3 MMT. Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.16 1/4, down 3 cents, Nearby Cash was $3.93 1/4, down 3 cents, Sep 25 Corn closed at $4.12 1/4, down 5 1/4 cents, Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.29, down 4 3/4 cents, New Crop Cash was $3.85 1/1, down 4 1/2 cents, On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
