WORCESTER, Mass. - Thanks to a new state program, some Worcester residents will get a chance to go green with electric bicycles. 

The Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition received money from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to start the Worcester e-Bike program.

The program will provide 100 lower income Worcester residents with free electric bicycles. The two-year program will study residents’ bike use and community impact and try to reduce the city’s carbon footprint.

“Worcester doesn’t have bicycle culture, but there’s a lot of need,” Alex Salcedo, e-Bike grant manager for the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, said. “There’s a lot of colleges. This is a college town, as we know. And parking and traffic, it would help tremendously to have more e-bikes or more bikes on the road.”

Participants in the e-bike program must be 18 or older and live or work in Worcester. 

Riders will also attend classes to introduce them to the electric bicycle, provide them with safe riding techniques, and teach them basic daily maintenance to keep the bicycle in safe and working condition.

Participants will get to keep the bike at the end of the two-year program.