480 free bikes delivered to keyworkers for travel to work

A partnership between EV supply and installation company, SYMPHONY EV-ZE for a Greener Future, and HYPE Merseyside, a community project for young people, has supplied and delivered 480 bikes to hospitals across the city region, for use by keyworkers.

HYPE initially pledged to provide 100 of their hire bikes, free of charge, to NHS staff across Merseyside as a means of supporting them to get to work and avoid using public transport during the current pandemic. But within weeks requests grew and now over 400 bikes have been supplied, with demand still growing.

The idea developed when SYMPHONY offered use of their fleet of vehicles, which were stood down from usual day to day operations, to be used by community groups, hospitals and for deliveries of food and essential medical provisions. HYPE provide the bikes and SYMPHONY deliver them to hospitals across the region.

John Robinson, Managing Director of SYMPHONY EV-ZE said, “Our vehicles are currently stood down from usual day to day operation, so it makes sense to offer them to those organisations who need them. When Ian Stenton from Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust asked us to work with HYPE to distribute the bikes, it was an easy win for everyone.”

Listen to John Robinson talking live on BBC Radio Merseyside below:

 

Matthew Houghton, Chief Executive at HYPE Merseyside, said: “We believe that the NHS staff working tirelessly across the region in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak are true heroes, the real ‘pride of Merseyside’ and we wanted to find a way to show our appreciation and help them during this crisis.

“With the help of the people of Merseyside, we can use our network and expertise to go even further and source more bikes, providing more frontline workers with free, healthy and safe transport.”

Ian Stenton, Head of Sustainability at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust added, “So many of our colleagues have been impacted by the public transport reductions over the last few weeks, making their journeys to work more complicated and costly. These bikes have been a real help and we are now looking at ways to extend the project to provide even more bikes for those who want them.”

HYPE is now inviting other NHS workers from Merseyside to apply for a bike and has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £20,000 to help it deliver even more bikes to members of the 50,000+ NHS staff community across the region.

All money raised from the crowdfunding campaign will be spent on buying more bikes and repairing those donated by the public, ready to be provided to brave NHS workers across Merseyside.

You can contact HYPE by visiting their website to donate money or a bike, or to apply for a bike if you are an NHS worker.