Group of Cebu bike enthusiast initiates ‘Share-A-Bike 4 Medical Frontliners’ project

Group offers free bike use for frontliners while on ECQ

One of the bikes that the group was able to release this week. | Photo from Dondon Dimpas

CEBU CITY, Philippines— In times of crisis like this one the world’s facing right now, heroes–not necessarily those with capes–step up to the plate to do something that can help.

Heroes like these bike enthusiasts in Cebu, who formed a group aimed at helping frontline workers travel from their homes to their workplaces for free using their bikes.

The group is called the “Share-A-Bike 4 Medical Frontliners.”

The group offers bikes which frontliners can use for free while public transportation isn’t available due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

How does this work?

For those who will be borrowing the bikes, all they have to do is fill in the form that will be sent by one member of the group. After that, they are free to use the bike for as long as they want or until the ECQ has been lifted.

Dondon Dimpas, one of the bike enthusiasts who initiated this project, told CDN Digital that this is their small way of helping the community, especially frontliners, during this coronavirus disease crisis.

“It was actually started by Ryan Bartolaba. A bike enthusiast. He is self-employed and a Grab operator who lent his bike to a front liner. After this, he received a lot of inquiries if he has more bikes available. It so happened that I was also preparing my bikes so I could lend it front liners,” he said.

As of now, the group has 11 bikes coming from different individuals from Cebu. The pick up location for the bikes  is in Dumlog Talisay, because it is the place where their volunteer mechanic lives.

“Wala mi Facebook page, for now, kay gamay pa among ma lend nga bikes, so, for now, word of mouth lang sa gyud and I also posted it on my Facebook account,” he added.

(We don’t have a Facebook, for now, because we have limited bikes that we can lend our frontliners, as of now, we are banking on word of mouth and through my posts on my Facebook account.)

Since the initiative started two weeks ago, Dimpas said the group is still looking for more volunteers who can lend their bikes to cater to the growing demands of the frontliners.

“Ma overwhelm mi sa mga requests. Naa mi mga requests from security Guards to BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection) personnel. But daghan na kaayo inquire mostly mga nurses mga babae. Mao na priority namo mga medical front liners and babae. Kay louy tawn mag lakaw ra,” he said.

(We are overwhelmed with the requests. We have requests from security guards to BFP personnel. But a lot of our inquiries are coming from female nurses who are out priority because they are medical frontliners and they are ladies, we don’t want them to be walking from home to work.)

The group is also looking for volunteer bike mechanics who can help check on the bikes that will be lent.

“We are still looking for volunteer bike mechanics in the north the check the bikes first before they can release it to the frontliners,” he added.

Those willing to help can contact Dondon Dimpas or Ryan Bartolaba on their Facebook accounts. /bmjo