The Bicycle Comes Roaring Back Thanks to COVID-19
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The Bicycle Comes Roaring Back Thanks to COVID-19

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Peter Appleby By Peter Appleby | Journalist and Industry Analyst - Thu, 06/04/2020 - 17:55

A day after World Bike Day, the humble bicycle is showing its worth during COVID-19. Aside from the benefits of personal health and wider advantages of a reduced number of cars on the road, the bike is also proving a safe transport method for citizens during a period marked by fear of transmission.

In Mexico, health workers have faced discrimination and, in some horrifying instances, even violence, as people have reacted is disturbing ways to the pressures of the pandemic. Ligia Kantun, a nurse in Merida, Yucatan, had coffee poured down the back of her neck and was told she was “infected,” while in Guadalajara, Jalisco, ENT doctor Alondra Torres had diluted bleach thrown over her, reports the BBC.

Daniela Chávez, a doctor in Mexico City has also faced discrimination. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Chavez’s experiences have made her fear for her safety and traveling to and from work has been difficult. But bicycles have come to the rescue.

The Biciteka Foundation, based in the Escandon neighborhood of the capital, recently launched an initiative to get alternative means of transport to those people at the coal face of the fight against COVID-19. Fear, as well as the logistical challenges of moving around a city when public transport was reduced, drove the Recicletas initiative, says AFP. Thanks to Biciteka Foundation, Chávez is now able to get to work without concern for her personal safety.

In general, bicycles have been given a new lease of life during the health crisis. Emerging as one of the sole transport means to offer safety from contagion and exercise simultaneously, the city’s government has moved to fortify and extend the bicycle infrastructure the city already has.

Growing sales figures in Mexico, as in many other parts of the world, underline the reliability of the bicycle. Transvision Bike, a bicycle brand that has 13 brick and mortar stores in Mexico, told La Silla Roja that it has witnessed a “high demand” for bikes since the pandemic hit the country. Demand on the company’s online store has risen by up to 70 percent.

This is positive news to an industry that had suffered from falling sales in recent years. The President of the National Bike Manufacturers Association (ANAFABI) Fernando Mejía Basurto told Informador that “an opportunity is definitely presenting itself. The sales in the last few years had fallen alarmingly. Last year, sales fell 14 percent and the year before 20 percent.”

 

Photo by:   Pixabay, Donterase
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