COVID-19: Motorcycle training considered ‘essential’ in Victoria

With the state of Victoria gripped by unprecedented lockdown conditions amidst the worsening COVID-19 crisis, learner motorcycle riders have been given a glimmer of hope, with motorcycle training considered an ‘essential’ service.

Australia’s largest motorcycle training and safety organisation, Stay Upright, was informed yesterday by VicRoads – Victoria’s transport authority – that it could continue its Melbourne-based operations despite the Stage 4 lockdown restrictions.

Under Stage 4 restrictions, Victorians in Metropolitan Melbourne, who are not essential workers, cannot leave home except to exercise for one hour and obtain essential items and services. There is also a curfew in place, with no one to be out between the hours of 8:00pm and 5:00am.

During the initial Stage 3 lockdown period earlier in 2020, motorcycle rider training was considered essential and therefore allowed to continue. While Stay Upright shut down for five weeks beginning in April, the company soon resumed its operations and saw a boom in learner motorcycle training despite the pandemic.

However, Glen McGrath, National Operations Manager of Stay Upright, told bikesales that, until yesterday, the company was unsure what Stage 4 restrictions meant for motorcycle training.

“We’ve been through this before when the first shutdown came along,” said McGrath. “We were considered then to be an essential service by all of the state governments we provide licencing training for. We’d been led to believe that Stage 4 would mean motorcycle training would no longer be considered ‘essential’, but thankfully it has been.”

Business as usual

While it is business as usual for Stay Upright’s motorcycle rider training courses, the company has centralised its administration services in New South Wales, with only physical rider training to take place in Victoria.

McGrath also said that the company follows strict social distancing measures to protect the health and wellbeing of its attendees. “Stay Upright was founded on the principal of safety,” he said. “We spent time during the initial shutdown period, understanding what the virus was and what the key principals of safety are. And they are to social distance, provide plenty of hand sanitizer, and to make sure frequently touched surfaces, like the bikes, are wiped down and cleaned.”

McGrath says that the COVID-19 measures are in place across the business nationally and the company is working hard to make sure the customer base is educated about those measures. “It seems that the customers are comfortable with that, but every day is a new day, and we need to make sure that message is reinforced regularly.”

Learner boom

Stay Upright typically trains 45,000 riders annually across the country, but since May 1, there has been a 20 per cent increase in learner motorcycle training sessions, a statistic that the company finds ‘startling’. This is in line with a significant increase in motorcycle sales during the pandemic, fueled mainly by the off-road and ATV/UTV segments.

McGrath told bikesales that the exact reasons for this boom are unknown, but he suspects it is because people are opting for motorcycle-related travel and recreation, with interstate and international travel likely unavailable for some time.

“We can assume that people are now considering their options in relation to transport choices,” said McGrath. “It is arguable that they have a little more time on their hands, and potentially a little bit more money in their pockets.”

In particular, Stay Upright’s adventure bike courses have seen a sharp increase, with numbers expected to double from 2019, by the end of 2020. While adventure bike courses remain a small part of the business, the boom is possibly linked to more people looking to escape to rural and regional areas.

Stay Upright was founded in 1981 by Warwick Schuberg and is Australia’s first and largest motorcycle training and safety organisation. Visit www.stayupright.com.au for more information.