A woman rides a bicycle through a bike lane in central Milan on May 4, 2020, as Italy starts to ease its lockdown.Bicycles could play a central role in more major European cities as governments scramble to get commuters back to work without crowding buses or trains after coronavirus lockdowns are eased.
But as workers seek to avoid being crammed onto public transport, where social distancing is a challenge, the coronavirus pandemic has proved a boon for some bike makers. The British government said in a statement last week that its plans were aimed at encouraging more people to “choose alternatives to public transport when they need to travel”, adding that this would help ensure “road, bus and rail networks are ready to respond to future increases in demand”.
And a newly introduced S3 high-end electric commuter bike with an automatic gearbox has provided a further boost for VanMoof, which expects its revenue to hit €80-million in 2020, from just €3-million five years ago.The coronavirus pandemic has also sparked a surge in bike sales across the United States, a mixture of people wanting to exercise during lockdown and those seeking to avoid the risk of contagion on public transport.