The motorcycle industry, like many others, is struggling during the pandemic, but we wonder whether motorcycling will be a victim or a survivor when the travel restrictions finally lift and the pandemic risk fades?

Will motorcycles continue to struggle in the ensuing economic downturn or will they thrive in the “new world order”?

Victim: A pessimistic outlook

Scene from the fictional film The Last Motorcycle on Earth!

Most motorcycle factories around the world have been on lockdown for several weeks.

However, some will this week begin production again after having disinfected and reorganised assembly lines to provide more distance between workers.

Catching up with orders will be difficult because of the broken supply chain of components and experts predict a catch-up that could take several months.

Not that orders are expected to be strong with the economic ramifications of the lockdown and the rising tide of unemployment expected to have a huge impact on leisure spending such as premium motorcycles.

That was the experience after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

Motorcycle sales still hadn’t recovered from that hit before they were hammered in the past couple of years by the credit squeeze and a lack of interest among millennials.

Now, unemployment is expected to take a further toll on the motorcycle industry.

Experts are predicting that the coming wave of electric motorcycles which was expected to breathe life into the motorcycle industry and attract younger riders, might also suffer.

They say start-ups are particularly vulnerable to the crash in shares and investment, so nascent electric motorcycle companies could starve for funds.

Survivor: An optimistic outlook

But it’s not all doom and gloom and motorcycling could be a survivor from this crisis.

Transport experts predict a shift from public transport to personal transport because of the contagion fears of being jammed together on packed buses trains.

Yet few will desire to return to one-person-per-car traffic jams, which could mean commuters opting for bicycles and powered- two-wheelers.

Lyft, an American ride-sharing company, believes life after the pandemic will be different with opportunities for motorcycles and scooters.

“As we look to the reopening of cities, people will be looking for affordable, reliable ways to stay socially distant while commuting, including turning to transportation options such as ride share, bike share, and scooters,” says spokesman Michael Masserman.

“There will also be an opportunity for local governments, as well as key advocates and stakeholders, to consider reshaping our cities to be built around people and not cars.”

Avi Meir, cofounder and CEO of Travel management company TravelPerk agrees.

“Countries and regions will emerge from lockdown at different paces, leading to ‘corridors of travel’ between destinations opening back up one by one,” Avi says.

“We’re already beginning to see early signs of a modest pickup in travel again in Asia Pacific, as the local pressure of the virus lessens.

“When travel does begin to resume, domestic travel will be first.”

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Freedom-loving motorcycle riders appear evenly divided about the planned coronavirus tracing app with slightly more than half saying they would download it.

The result comes from our quick online survey which attracted 228 respondents, 98% of which were in Australia.

Divided results

Our survey found 51% say they will download the app to help the health authorities trace people with COVID-19 and alert those who have had contact with them.

However, those who will download the app are also divided with 29% saying they would download it regardless.

The remainder ticked “maybe”.

When asked what conditions they would require before downloading, they were divided between fewer travel restrictions (82%) and privacy assurances (63%). Other inducements attracted negligible responses.

The result appears good news for the government which says it needs 40% take-up rate to be effective.

If more than half of the freedom-loving motorcycle riders in our survey say they will download the app, then the government may be on course to reach their desired take-up rate.

But they may need to offer assurances on privacy and may need to offer the inducement of fewer travel restrictions.

There has been talk that if the app doesn’t reach 40%, the government would make it mandatory, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison appears to have quashed that notion.

Some of the other comments by respondents who said yes or maybe to downloading the app include: ability to remove the app; anonymity; time limited and displaying where infected individuals live

TraceTogether app

The app will be based on the Singapore TraceTogether app that has only had a 20% take-up rate.

Since the app development has not yet been completed, there are no details about how ours will vary from the Singapore app and how privacy would be protected.

For example, the Singapore app uses Bluetooth only, but there is talk that the Australian version will also use GPS tracking.

Facebook comments

Interestingly, the comments on our Facebook posts about the app had a substantially different result to our online poll.

Our two Facebook posts reached 4800 of our 20,000+ Facebook followers and attracted only 37 likes.

Of the 160+ comments, about 80% were against downloading the app, citing concerns about privacy and a government conspiracy.

Critics of Facebook may suggest this is an example of how social media attracts a skew of negative comments and conspiracy theorists.

Please note: This poll sampled n=223 Australian respondents which may not be representative of the wider Australian population at large.

If you would like the raw data from our survey, please send me an email and I will forward it to you.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com