22-05-2025
$1,000 e-bikes being raffled to help some West Palm Beach residents with transportation
West Palm Beach residents north of downtown can enter a raffle starting the evening of May 23 to win e-bikes worth $900 to $1,100.
Local nonprofit WPBgo will host raffles over the next 12 months, giving dozens of people from these neighborhoods $1,000 vouchers each to buy e-bikes from a local bicycle shop.
The first raffle takes place at the West Palm Beach Police Department's Operation Pray Until Something Happens block party at 8 p.m. on Tamarind Avenue, between 18th and State streets.
Residents of the Coleman Park, Pleasant City and Historic Northwest neighborhoods — north of downtown, mostly between Tamarind Avenue and U.S. 1 — are eligible to enter WPBgo's contest. Applicants can either fill out an online form at at the time of the party, or fill out a paper form there.
Winners at the May 23 raffle and WPBgo contests held throughout the year can buy their prizes at West Palm Bikes bicycle shop at the shopping plaza at 400 Village Blvd., northwest of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard.
The three e-bikes raffle entrants can win are the $900 Hiboy EX6 ST, the $1,000 Lectric XP 3.0 and the $1,100 Hiboy P6. They can be ridden 20 to 60 miles on a single charge, the manufacturers say.
WPBgo's goal is to reduce congestion and make it more affordable for residents north of downtown to commute, director Jonathan Hopkins said.
An estimated 13% to 21% of residents in the target neighborhoods have no vehicles at home, the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019-2023 American Community Survey data says.
The Knight Foundation is funding the WPBgo e-bike raffles.
Hopkins hopes to bring the program to downtown residents in the future, based on the success of this initiative. "People in Wellington are not going to replace their cars with an e-bike," Hopkins said, which is why WPBgo is targeting residents north of downtown.
WPBgo's ultimate goal is to reduce downtown traffic, working mainly with other nonprofits and government agencies to make that happen.
In September, WPBgo started paying for commutes of some people who work downtown by buying them $20,000 worth of bus passes on Palm Beach County's public bus system, Palm Tran, using a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. WPBgo will release results from that program this year, it has said.
Chris Persaud covers transportation in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email news tips and ideas to cpersaud@
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: $1,000 e-bikes being raffled in this part of West Palm Beach on Friday
