Hiyacar offers free car hire to NHS staff and key workers to stop them getting on packed Tubes

The car-sharing platform says don’t share your car, unless its for NHS staff or a key worker
Lauren Hurley/PA Archive/PA Images
Amelia Heathman31 March 2020

With all the new social distancing rules in place, the sharing economy is going to be one of the worst affected. We had become used to sharing bikes and renting clothes from one another, but this is unlikely to be a habit during the global coronavirus-induced lockdown.

As a result, Hiyacar, the London-based peer-to-peer car sharing platform, has told customers not to share cars. Instead, it says it wants to mobilise its community of car owners to offer their vehicles to NHS staff and key workers in London and Brighton, whom it is offering free rides in vehicles that otherwise would have been unused.

“We started a car-sharing business to put under-utilised cars to better use and there is no better use than this,” co-founder Rob Larmour tells the Standard. “Seeing NHS and key workers forced onto packed tubes and trains is not good enough so we want to give them free access to cars so they can travel safely. They are the heartbeat of the community and we want to help them as much as we can.”

The start-up is working with its communities and reaching out to local influencers on social media in order to place cars as close as possible to hospitals or areas where key workers are located. If there isn’t a car nearby, Hiyacar says it will help try and relocate one. There is no fee to hire one of the cars, only a subsidised insurance price from £9 a day, though that may be free depending on the vehicle.

NHS staff and key workers are encouraged to sign up to the app and use the live chat function to prove their job statuses, such as with a photo of their badge or a letter their employer has written for them. Car owners who want their vehicles to be used in this way can be paired up with key workers in the area, Hiyacar says to also contact the company via the live chat to do this.

Hiyacar's founders Graeme Risby and Rib Larmour launched the company in 2016 to encourage people to share their vehicles
Hiyacar

If a car is booked 48 hours ahead, then the car will be sanitised professionally. If it’s within this time period, then the company is advising that the driver should disinfect the handles, steering wheel, glove box handle, gearstick, and radio screen or dials to ensure it is safe to drive.

Thanks to Hiyacar’s keyless technology, Quickstart, there’s no human contact involved in picking up and dropping off a car. This uses secure virtual keys in the app to unlock a car via a box under the dash. “Everything is done by the app, therefore making it easier for people to adhere to the government’s social distancing guidelines,” says Larmour.

London during Coronavirus lockdown - In pictures

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Like many companies, Hiyacar has had to adjust to the new ways of working following the lockdown measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“When the outbreak first hit, we found our team was actually busier than usual as the public were quick to start looking for a safer and more flexible way of travelling to run errands like shopping.”

However, since moving to the full lockdown, people have been travelling less, freeing up cars for NHS and key workers.

How else does the company expect it will have to adjust to the new way of living? For one, technology is going to become more important. “I prefer the phrase physical distancing over social distancing, as the technology we have available to us allows for everyone to still be able to communicate and interact which is crucial for peer-to-peer,” says Larmour.

“As a result of the outbreak, I think concepts like keyless technology and other forms of non-human contact, such as safe distance food drop-offs, will become more normal in everyday society.”

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