The approval comes after the three local authorities with which Beryl runs e-scooter trial schemes - Norfolk County Council, BCP Council and Isle of Wight Council - accepted the Department for Transport’s (DfT) invitation to extend them until May 2024. 

Beryl launched its first e-scooter trial scheme in Norwich in September 2020. This was followed by a second scheme on the Isle of Wight in November 2020 and a third in Bournemouth and Poole in January 2021. All three schemes have since been extended. 

Since the launch of the Norwich scheme, Beryl’s e-scooters have generated over 1,040,000 journeys, over 3,523,000km across 421,133 hours.* Feedback from over 34,000 users across the three schemes shows that, on average, 28% of those e-scooter journeys have replaced road transport journeys, such as cars, vans, taxis and motorbikes. 

According to industry calculations based on modal shift, this has saved almost 44 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide emissions.

Beryl CEO and co-founder, Phil Ellis, said: “The numbers show that our e-scooters have proven to be really popular across the three areas and their extension is a major boost to our aim of inspiring even more people to take up sustainable travel.

“When planned correctly with local authorities and stakeholders and with the safety of users and pedestrians treated as paramount, e-scooters can offer a fast, fun, clean and inexpensive travel option.

“The extension of the trial will allow us to gather even further evidence to support the importance of their role within integrated urban transport schemes.”

You can hire a Beryl bike or an e-scooter through the Beryl app, available for free download on the App Store for iOS, and the Google Play Store for Android users. 

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. Beryl also runs the Scoot Happy Tour, which offers users online or in-person training to learn how to safely use a Beryl e-scooter and the array of smart features found on the vehicles.

Every Beryl e-scooter has vehicle approval from the DfT, ensuring it meets the highest safety standards.

*Scheme breakdown

• Norwich - 374,863 journeys, 1,174,691 km
• BCP - 541,815 journeys, 1,946,764 km
• IOW - 123,818 journeys, 401,478 km