London companies are trying to help, in some way, all the personnel that is fighting and working against the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. Dan Parsons, director of Fully Charged, a company dedicated to urban transport and specialized in electric bicycles, both for passengers/cyclists and freight, has created a campaign to facilitate the free transportation of workers from the NHS (National Health Service).
Many British National Health Service workers are forced to go on trains or buses where it is complicated to maintain a safe distance from other people, in addition to being in contact with many surfaces or breathing in “closed” environments. For this reason, the Fully Charged company has loaned ten of its Gocycle GS electric bicycles for three months and completely free of charge to all health personnel who request it through its website.
Within hours of going live, there were already hundreds of workers on the waiting list.
Brompton bikes made 200 of their bikes available to health employees for just 1 Pound a month deposit. Uber also offered 50 of its JUMP rental electric bikes days ago for £ 10 all day, a fairly reasonable price. In this way, National Health Services workers can move around the city by bicycle, avoiding any social contact, and being infected by the virus.
The measure is linked to the law enacted by the British Government (as is the case in New York), where bicycle shops and workshops can remain open and are considered primary services. Other cities such as Calgary, in Canada, are closing some of their streets to motorized traffic to facilitate the safe use of bicycles as a means of transport and to expand the areas of bicycle lanes and sidewalks, thus favoring the distance between people.