With social distancing and stay at home being the only possible vaccines and remedies to beat the novel coronavirus pandemic, half the world's population remains under the Covid-19 curfew.
In an innovative idea founded on the practice of social distancing, a YouTuber from Tripura has made his 'Covid-19 Bike' to spread the message on following the lockdown rules.
A bike that speaks on social distancing
Partha Saha of Aralia village near Agartala spoke to the media, "Watching everyone talk about social distancing, how important it is and how many people aren't following it made me think if I could attract their attention and send a message that social distancing is indeed serious."
"Accordingly, I modified a motorbike that runs on petrol by using bicycle sets as front and back seats keeping a one-meter distance from each other," he adds.
The new electric bike uses a DC motor of 750 Watt and a battery of 48 volts that is used to convert the needed electronic energy for the bike to move.
Albeit the stringent police measures and the guidelines issued by the government to be maintained throughout the national lockdown that ends on May 3, many people weren't maintaining distance.
Saha, worried on this ignorance by his fellowmen, aims at using his Covid-19 Bike "for spreading the message but not to serve a commercial purpose."
A distance of one-meter is ensured on this bike's front and back seat and is seemingly safer than any other vehicle on road today! The bike takes three hours to get charged and runs around 80 kilometres in a single charge.
Technical Partha and Covid bike
Saha has been an expert on the mechanical and technical work fields. Since 2018, he has turned his focus to his YouTube channel, prior to which he worked as a mechanic and later, a technical instructor at an institute. His channel, 'Technical Partha' has over 3 lakh subscribers and millions of viewership on all the videos.
He originally had an idea to use the vehicle to drop his daughter safe to the school. But considering the cumbersome task of government approval and recognition, he dropped the plan.
"There are many agencies appointed by the government that certify whether a vehicle is suited for transport or not. Also, no vehicle once purchased and registered on vahan database can be modified without permission. So, I am afraid it can't run on the roads for now," he said.
Although the Covid-19 bike is the most gripping and prototypical of the hour, Saha has no plans to post the new electronic, socially distanced bike on his channel.
"I took it out for a spin the other day and someone apparently made a video and posted on social media. I am still getting messages every day. It has attracted people's attention. I hope they actually follow social distancing this time," he mentioned.
