A bonus to buy bicycles and scooters, electric or not, to use to get around and go to work. This is the idea that the Government is working on to try to encourage the development of autonomous but sustainable mobility in the months in which we will find ourselves living with the coronavirus.
Phase 2 has officially begun and millions of citizens have returned to work. Others will soon follow and finding an alternative means of transport to buses, metro and trams, but also to the private car, becomes essential to move around safely and prevent traffic from swallowing us mercilessly.
Exactly for this reason, the Executive is about to introduce a bonus on bicycles and scooters as part of the now famous April decree (which has now become the May decree) which should be approved in the middle of the week. While waiting for news from the European Union on the Recovery Fund (expected for mid-May), the Italian Government has decided to move on its own, launching a measure worth around 50 billion to support families and businesses, within which there will also be space the bonus on two wheels.
BONUS BIKES AND SCOOTERS: HOW IT WILL WORK
Based on what was anticipated by the Minister of Transport, Paola De Micheli, the May decree will bring with it a bonus aimed at encouraging the use of bikes and scooters.
It will come in the form of a 200 euro card which will be used to buy bikes, including pedal assisted bikes, and electric vehicles such as scooters, segways and hoverboards. The bonus can also be used to take advantage of car sharing, bike sharing, scooter sharing and so on. The stated aim is to prevent citizens from being forced to use public transport, causing gatherings that would increase the risk of contagion from the coronavirus, but also to prevent the indiscriminate use of the private car which would result in a surge in pollution and unmanageable traffic.
THE CONDITIONS
The bonus will not be available to everyone, but only to gods citizens residing in a metropolitan city or in an urban area with more than 60 inhabitants. In short, the aim is to cover at least the large cities, such as Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Palermo and so on, which even before the emergency showed very high levels of city traffic, despite the fact that public transport was running at full capacity.
THE CYCLE PATHS
At the same time, the Government pushes on the accelerator of sustainable mobility, announcing the upgrading of cycle paths: "We also intend to involve the mayors so that the launch of additional cycle paths to the existing ones is immediately put on paper, perhaps using the preferential lanes temporarily, opening new gates for bikes, e-bikes and scooters ”, declared the Undersecretary for Transport, Roberto Traversi.
