Two million kilometres travelled by Beryl in Norwich
04/10/2022
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As part of the MOBI-MIX Demonstrator pilot, Norfolk County Council, are celebrating a significant milestone for the region’s bike, e-bike and e-scooter share scheme with Beryl.
Riders have now clocked up more than two million kilometres of travel across the scheme, the equivalent of almost 50 journeys around the Earth. Almost a million of these kilometres were clocked up using the city’s e-scooter fleet.
Feedback from Beryl users* shows that over a quarter (28.7%) of the overall 649,232 journeys made in Norwich have replaced road transport journeys - including driving a car/van, being a passenger in a car/van, using a taxi or riding a motorbike or moped. This equates to almost 76 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions saved; the equivalent of around 5,073,071 boiled kettles or more than 445 flights from London to Edinburgh**.
Beryl CEO, Phil Ellis, said: “Reaching two million kilometres is a fantastic achievement and I’d like to thank all of our customer service and on-street teams; who work incredibly hard to ensure the scheme runs successfully and provide a great service to our users on a daily basis.
“Our Norwich scheme - with its three modes - is a great example of how delivering a range of services can better contribute towards the aims of an integrated transport network.
“Each type of transport has its own benefits and appeals that complement each other and our introduction of new modes of sustainable transport in Norwich has, each time, led to an increase in the popularity of existing modes.
“I think that this innovation and diversity of choice has been key to reaching such a significant milestone.”
Councillor Lana Hempsall, Sustainable Transport Champion said; “This is a real success for the scheme which continues to go from strength to strength.
“The green bikes and e-scooters are now well known across Norwich and many of our locals and visitors have become ‘Beryl converts’ using them to make those shorter journeys to work, education and leisure, rather than taking their car.
“The scheme is proving to be a highly valuable tool in getting more cars off the road and helping us to achieve our targets around Net Zero.”
This comes at a great time for the scheme with 95 bays now installed across the service area, including the recently launched bays in Wymondham. This means that, currently, 113,793 people are a five minutes-walk from a bay, representing 60% of the service area's population. More bays will also be opening later this year in both Hethersett and Drayton.
Initially launched as a bike share scheme in March 2020, e-scooters were added to Norwich in September 2020 as part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) pilot and the numbers of available scooters doubled to 500 in April this year.
Safety is paramount which is why earlier this year Beryl and Norfolk County Council launched the Scoot Happy Training. This gives people the opportunity to take part in online training which has already been completed by almost 2000 people. In addition more than 100 people have taken part in face to face Scoot Happy training sessions.
E-scooter riders are required to provide a valid UK Driving Licence to participate. They are also asked to provide feedback on their experiences using the vehicles to support data learnings on operating the service.
Beryl e-Scooters can be used on roads, cycle lanes, carriageways and other areas where cycling is permitted but not on pavements. Every Beryl e-Scooter has vehicle approval from the Department for Transport (DfT), ensuring it meets the highest safety standards. Beryl has and will continue to consult with key organisations as the trial progresses.
For more information on Beryl’s innovative bike share scheme, visit beryl.cc/bikeshare.
*Based on 16,384 user responses received since 10 March 2021
**Carbon saving calculations are approximate and are based on industry research
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