Bikes have emerged as a crucial mode of transportation during the crisis, especially for COVID-19 frontliners
Art by Sai Shah | Source photos by Arlindo Camacho and Simon Hattinga Verschure/Unsplash
Heads up: Life Cycles PH Community and Lend a Bike Project are accepting bicycles to help healthcare workers commute during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Transportation has been a major challenge for citizens in the country, especially essential employees who commute to work amid ECQ. Thankfully, these groups are finding solutions by pairing frontliners and bicycle owners to provide personal transport options.
According to its group description, Life Cycles PH aims to match institutions in need with generous bike donors to help frontliners such as doctors, nurses, and other essential workers get to work amid the quarantine.
“We accept donations through Life Cycles PH page so we purchase bikes and donate them directly to institutions. We also opened a Facebook group, Life Cycles Community, where bike lenders and borrowers nearby can match up and make the exchange,” says Keisha Mayuga, one of the pioneers of Life Cycles PH.
The Lend-a-Bike pPoject also believes in the power of the pedal to make life more convenient for frontliners and health workers. “The Lend-a-Bike Project is an initiative to help alleviate this COVID-19 medical crisis by providing bicycles as alternative transport for our frontliners and health workers so that they can still perform their duties,” reads their Facebook group description.
Lend-a-Bike project adopted in Cebu and Naga City
Bike enthusiasts from Cebu City also formed a group called Share-A-Bike 4 Medical Frontliners to aid healthcare workers and other frontliners travel for free using bikes. The group will be lending bicycles to these frontline workers until the ECQ is lifted.
Meanwhile, the city government of Naga has implemented its own lend-a-bike project in which health workers and medical personnel of Bicol Medical Center are provided bikes and helmets for free to help them get around the city.