Case Study: The Bike Project achieves scalable, automated bike distribution for refugees with Twilio SMS

The Bike Project Delivers Critical Mobility to Refugees in the UK

The Bike Project, founded by Jem Stein, refurbishes donated abandoned bikes to give refugees in the UK affordable, independent transportation. Many asylum seekers live on the outskirts of London with only a small weekly stipend and cannot afford public transit, and demand for bikes surged during the refugee crisis—creating long, chaotic queues and an urgent need for a better system.

The team built an integrated solution: they collect and repair bikes and implemented a Salesforce-linked online registration and Twilio SMS queueing system that matches riders by height, sends pickup pins and rebooking prompts, and automates notifications. The result: more than 3,500 bikes delivered (with thousands more planned), an estimated £1,000 per-person annual transport saving, new support programs like Bike Buddies and Pedal Power, and expansion plans to scale the model to Birmingham.

The Bike Project

Jem Stein

Founder