ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A US study of public bikes has revealed that their handlebars can harbour more than 800 times the amount of bacteria as a personal bicycle.

When electric bike manufacturer Velotric carried out swab tests it discovered that a typical model used by the public was populated with 6.5 million CFUs. This meant the bike harboured 12,000 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.

And the bacteria recorded were all gram-negative rods which are potentially deadly.

In contrast, the personal bike tested by Velotric was found to harbour 8,000 CFUs - all gram-positive cocci capable of causing inflammatory disease. However, the testers concluded that this quantity of bacteria could be kept in check by means of an occasional wipe-down with an antiseptic cloth, whereas the public bike would need a complete clean between riders.

Public electric scooters were also found to pose a potential risk to health with 700 times the amount of bacteria found on the model tested compared with the germ count on a personal scooter.

Swab tests on scooters revealed that the shared model was populated by gram-positive rods whereas the privately-used scooter played host to less harmful bacillus.

Public bikes and scooters are often left in public places and are rarely cleaned, according to researchers.

Velotric also carried out swab tests on other commuter surfaces which revealed 18 million CFUs on commonly-touched train surfaces. And buses were found to be significantly more germ-ridden with 40 million microbial CFUs clocked up - four times the amount of bacteria as on a typical kitchen sink.

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