TGt Meets...Ben from Beryl Bikes

Meet our latest TGt Meets...Ben from Beryl Bikes! We asked Ben all about the inspiration behind Emily Brooke's idea to create Beryl Bikes and got the insight into why you should go hire a Beryl Bike!

Tell us a little bit about Beryl Bikes…

Beryl’s mission is to build a better world by getting more people moving sustainably and to remove the barriers to active transport. We believe that we can build a better world by making greener travel; safer, simpler, more affordable and accessible.

What are the benefits of choosing to use Beryl Bikes?

It’s a fun and active way of getting to and from your destination with the added benefit of being the most sustainable form of transport on two wheels!

What inspired the creation of Beryl Bikes?

Beryl was founded by Emily Brooke in 2012 (formerly 'Blaze') with the sole purpose 'to build a better world by getting more people in cities on bikes', Beryl was created after Emily created the Laserlight as part of her final year university project. The Laserlight is a front facing light for cyclists that also has a green laser, projecting the symbol of a bike down onto the road to warn other road users of an approaching cyclist in their blind spot.   The laserlight still forms a core part of our bike today.

We now operate  10,000 connected vehicles (bikes, ebikes, scooters and cargo bikes) on-street across 6 different urban areas in the U.K. These vehicles have so far undertaken over 1.2 million journeys and we now average 5,000+ journeys every day.

What seems to be the favourite, the bikes or your e-Scooters?

Both are very popular!

We’ve had over 460,000 bike rides and just over 190,000 scooter trips since we launched in the area.  They are ridden for just over 4km on each trip showing that people are using our bikes and scooters for commuting and trips rather than just leisure rides.

Do you provide courses for those that need road cycling skill?

We work with the Bikeability Trust to provide 300-min free on our bikes to help people learn how to ride confidently.

On top of this we provide our own scooter skills events and training courses in the BCP area to provide help and in-person support for those who want more advice on riding safely and responsibly.

Later this year we will also be launching a digital scooter skills platform that will help people across the country feel more confident about scooting and how to do so properly.

Who would you recommend/would benefit from using Beryl Bikes?

We design bikes and bikeshare systems to make it easy to cycle around town. Our bikes are available to anyone who wants to ride on two wheels. Over 70% of our riders spot out bikes and scooters on the street and decide to take a ride, many of them haven’t been on a bike for 5+ years!

We also have scooters and e-Bikes for people to try so no matter what age you are or fitness level, we think there’s a Beryl vehicle that would suit you. 

Find out more about Beryl Bikes HERE!