France pays to fix a million bikes to beat coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: People ride bicycles near Notre Dame Cathedral during a warm and sunny day in Paris as a heatwave hits France, June 25, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

PARIS (Reuters) - More than a million French cyclists have used a 50 euro ($60) subsidy to get their old bikes repaired as part of measures to fight the coronavirus and now the government wants more people to start riding them.

Following France's first lockdown in the spring, the government offered subsidies to get old bikes fixed. That programme will now be extended until the end of March following the relaxation of a second lockdown last weekend.