The government said that the Transport Bill, which was announced during yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, will help them take the steps they need to make e-scooters safer and they will now consider how best to design future regulations.
While riding a privately owned e-scooter on public land is currently illegal, there are currently a number of Department for Transport sponsored trials. These were sanctioned to help the DfT to better understand the benefits of properly regulated, safety-tested e-scooters and their impact on public space.
Beryl currently operates three of these trials in Bournemouth and Poole, Norwich and the Isle of Wight. Since the first scheme was launched in Norwich in September 2020, users have clocked up almost 647,000 journeys over 2,232,132 km across the three schemes.
Currently e-scooters sold for private use are unregulated and can only be used legally on private land with the landowner’s permission. But many of the one million plus private e-scooters sold to date in the UK are being used illegally on the public highway.
Beryl CEO and Co-Founder, Phil Ellis, said: “We welcome any legislation that seeks to remove barriers to sustainable transport and encourage the take up of greener transport transport options, reducing road congestion while improving air quality and public health.
“The success of our schemes has shown that, by instilling high standards of safety and operational control, you can introduce safe and sustainable schemes that can form an essential part of an integrated multimodal urban transport network.
“The key is to ensure delivery in partnership with authorities and in consultation with communities and key stakeholders and we have a proven track record of doing this successfully.”
During the trials, 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 is DfT approved, ensuring it meets the highest safety standards. Beryl has and will continue to consult with key organisations as the trials progress.
To begin a trip with a Beryl e-scooter, users just need to follow the simple in-app directions to unlock the vehicle for use. At the end of their ride, users must lock the scooter via the app and will hear a chime from the scooter to register that it is locked. Beryl e-scooters available to hire are visible both on-street and in the app, with Beryl Bays and operating zones also shown in the app.
Beryl e-scooters are available to hire through two payment choices of Pay-As-You-Ride (£1.50 unlock fee + 10p per minute) or Minute Bundles (£1.50 unlock fee and bundles priced at 5p per minute; 100 minutes for £5, 200 minutes for £10, 300 minutes for £15). Users who park a hired e-scooter outside of a Beryl Bay will be charged a £5 convenience fee, while users who lock a Beryl e-scooter outside the operating zone will be charged £10. This fee covers operational costs associated with returning vehicles to a bay for another user to ride.