Coronavirus And Cycling To Work

In the UK, everybody’s life has been touched by Coronavirus in some way or another - for some, it’s been a case of staying isolated, for some it’s been working on hospital wards full of Coronavirus sufferers - and for others, it’s been enduring the heartbreak of losing a loved one. 

There have been some positives which have come out of the pandemic however, the full nation is pulling together - and more and more people have discovered the time to be able to get outside and enjoy fresh air, in a safe and controlled manner. As the roads have quietened down, there has been a government backed increase in cycling, and as we are told to avoid public transport as much as possible - there’s been a massive increase the number of people cycling to work, or planning to cycle to work when workplaces re-open. 

It’s not just individuals choosing to cycle to work either, the government has put massive emphasis on cycling to work - and Grant Shapps the UK government’s transport secretary has revealed plans for a massive £250 million fund, which has been labelled the ‘active travel fund’ This money will be spent on a wide variety of new projects, with one of the biggest being expanding the number of segregated cycle paths across the UK - helping commuters cycle into work safely. 

Pre-Coronavirus surveys had shown that under 5% of commutes were taken on a bike - so it will be interesting to see the effect that coronavirus has on this percentage in short, medium and long term. 

At Westbrook, we have already seen a big increase in the number of bikes being sold across our site - and we are benefiting from the years of hard work we have put in our supply chain - ensuring that we have a reliable supply of bikes to our customers. 

We have also seen an increase in customers coming to us, looking to buy their bike through the cycle to work scheme. This is by far the most tax efficient way of getting a new bike - although there are a few boxes to tick. 

The cycle to work scheme - your employer needs to have signed up to the scheme. You then rent the bike from your employer (or the provider that they are using) across 12-24 monthly payments. The payments are taken pre-tax, so offer some significant savings before your pay reaches you each month. 

If you are struggling to make progress with the cycle to work scheme, we supply our bikes with a number of different finance options available.