The city is a trial area for a for-hire scheme for motorised vehicles such as e-scooters, with Beryl serving as the city’s operator with 140 bays area-wide. Users with a full or provisional driving license can hire a bike, electric bike, or e-scooter on a pay-per-minute basis. The operator surveyed 3,000 people in September who had signed up to use the service since January, and published its findings on behaviors, motivations, impacts, and barriers. The findings revealed that Beryl had a positive impact on habits in the city, with 44% of riders cycling more often, 35% reducing their use of cars, and 50% reducing their use of taxis.
The survey also found that more than 60% of Beryl riders are using the service to replace bus and car journeys. In addition, 61% of riders have used a Beryl vehicle to replace a car, van, motorcycle, or taxi journey, and there has been a 13% rise in disabled users, up from 4% in 2022. Beryl’s chief executive and co-founder, Phil Ellis, noted that one of the scheme’s strengths is its multimodality, offering people three modes of transportation and having a positive impact on rider behavior, getting more people out of their cars and adopting more sustainable transport habits. This suggests that the scheme is contributing to reduced car usage and increased sustainable transportation habits.
Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, expressed that the Beryl scheme in Norwich continues to be popular, with more than 77,000 people using the scheme since it launched in March 2020. Additionally, almost 14,000 people tried the scheme this year for the first time to replace car journeys, indicating that the scheme is making a real impact on air quality in the city and is a key part of the city’s efforts to achieve net-zero targets. Overall, the findings of the survey indicate that the Beryl scheme has had a positive impact on transportation habits in the city, resulting in reduced car usage and increased adoption of sustainable transport options.
