BIKE SHED COMMUNITY RESPONSE

When it all goes wrong, it’s only right that those of us who are able to help, step-up to do our part to support the community, so when Bike Shed was forced to close it’s doors in London we decided to mobilise our community into a volunteer rider’s group, to provide free courier-style services to support the fight against Covid-19.

Motorcycles are used by first responders, couriers and food delivery drivers because they are fast and efficient, so we are using our bikes to collect PPE parts for assembly, deliver assembled PPE gear to front-line healthcare workers, along with food, medicine, and soon we will be distributing NHS lung-capacity testing kits, to see which unwell people might be better off in hospital than at home.

There are lots of groups out there using Facebook and WhatsApp to coordinate volunteers, but for motorcycle riders the missing piece of the puzzle was having a mobile app that collected rider’s details with full safeguarding and legal checks, tracking jobs for the pickup and delivery clients.

Wavestone Consulting offered their help, researching Apps, and after going through half a dozen, they connected us with Gophr who repurposed their commercial courier app for our use, all free of charge. Huge thanks to both companies for their help, support and hard work over weeks of research and testing.

Team Rubicon UK are working with the government and British Red Cross to coordinate tasks, and we are working with them, as part of Op React, to help those most in need get connected with our unique services. Indian Motorcycles also offered to cover the cost of services we could’t get for free, and even threw in a couple of bikes with full-luggage for anyone who could make good use of them.

WHO ARE THE VOLUNTEERS?

Our riders are mostly professionals on lockdown with a wealth of useful life experience who happen to ride a motorcycle for pleasure or as a commuter. They are doing this volunteer work to help the country, and take some of the strain off front-line health workers. Many of our riders are also DBS/CRB checked.

ARE WE NATIONWIDE?

We have hundreds of active volunteers already signed up to the App, covering much of the UK, with more joining every day. Wherever you are, we hope to help.

SNAPSHOT OF VOLUNTEERS 6th MAY (+ 50 RIDERS A DAY)

WHO ARE WE HELPING ALREADY?

---

Team Rubicon UK	3dCrowd London	Scrubs for NHS
Face Protection Hub	Motasem.co.uk	For the Love of Scrubs
3dCrowdUK	Care Home Masks	Scrub Hub East London
Scrub Hub	Small Mask Group	Queens Park Scrubs
South Devon Scrubs Angels	Scrubs for Surrey & Sussex	Scrubs for Stoke in Staffordshire
Visors for Care Givers	Bexley Scrubs	Headbands for HealthCare
Covid Crisis Rescue	NHS Sew Lucky Scrubs	Skegness Sewing for Scrubs NHS

---

Reach us at TaskForce@TheBikeShed.cc

WHO IS BEHIND THE ORGANISATION?

The Bike Shed Motorcycle Club has set up the Bike Shed Community Response volunteer riders group in collaboration with Gophr Courier App and Digital Consultancy, Wavestone, working along-side Team Rubicon UK as part of Op React, and backed by Indian Motorcycle.

This is entirely a charity venture, and no organisers or companies are being paid in any way.

---

NEXT > GET OUR HELP