I've seen a number of campaigns to light up cyclists in Austin.

Invariably, they involve giving away a bunch of lights to cyclists who may or may not need them, and the lights they do give are the cheapest they can find (and certainly, not anything by Planet Bike.)

In general, that means that they take 2016, 2032 or 357 button cell batteries and 1) put out very little light and 2) are kind of expensive to replace the batteries on (unless you order replacement batteries from China.)

At the very least, any such project needs to give lights that take AAA or AA (better) batteries. (Or be rechargeable, but that drives the cost up.) And of course a set of batteries needs to be included.

And unfortunately, even if you do give somebody a light with batteries, once the batteries die, they may not care enough to replace them. (Especially if they're something weird like a button cell.) Or care enough to even turn them on, especially if they're also salmon, riding against traffic ("why do I need a light? it doesn't help me see, and I can see any car coming at me and get out of the way ...")

I don't know what the answer is, beyond dynamo lights, which drives the price way up and are attractive to thieves ...

Maybe instead of giving away light offer to add large reflective strips to their bikes? White up front and on the sides, red in back? Not as good as lights, but zero maintenance and cheap.

One thing that would be cool is if the police give a ticket for no lights ($147 here I think) and the cyclist pays that ... the court kicks back $40 of that into some decent lights for the offender (which are handed out when the fine is paid, or the cyclist is mailed a coupon if he pays by mail.) I don't see it happening, but it would be nice.