Having recently celebrated its fourth anniversary, the scheme was awarded the 2023 Municipal Journal (MJ) Award for the UK’s Best Transport Decarbonisation Project. The MJ Awards are considered the highest level of recognition in the UK local authority community.

Representatives from both Beryl and BCP Council were presented with the award by BBC News anchor Huw Edwards, last Friday (23 June), at a special gala event at the Park Plaza in London. 

Since launching in 2019, the scheme has had a significant impact in decarbonising the region’s transport system, with almost 198,000 users undertaking 1.55 million journeys over 5.5 million kilometres. Those journeys have directly replaced over 388,000 car, van, taxi or motorbike journeys, removing over 275 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide from our air, the equivalent of using nearly 120,000 litres of petrol.

Beryl CEO and co-founder, Phil Ellis, said: “Our BCP scheme is a fantastic example of how we provide the best possible service for users by delivering in close partnership with cities and in consultation with communities and key stakeholders.

“This working model allows us to really encourage people out of their cars and onto more sustainable forms of transport, helping to reduce congestion and harmful carbon emissions while getting people active and improving public health. 

“I’m delighted that this has been recognised with such a prestigious award and we will continue to build on our success and have an even greater impact on improving regional air quality."

Cllr Andy Hadley, BCP Council’s Portfolio Holder for Climate Response, Environment and Energy said: “This award is wonderful news. It is fantastic that our scheme has been recognised with an MJ Award and my thanks go to all those at BCP Council and Beryl who are involved in its delivery. 

“We are fortunate to have an excellent working partnership with Beryl and our close collaboration with them has ensured delivery of an innovative, popular, safe and well managed service.”

Robin Heap, Zest CEO, sponsor of the Best Transport Decarbonisation Award, said: “We wanted this award to uncover projects that had delivered on more than carbon reduction, to create positive change in communities and in the local economy. It was no
surprise that BCP Council was found to be a clear winner in a very strong field.

"The Bike Share project ticked all the boxes: high utilisation rates, a significant modal shift from motor vehicles, and long-term behavioural change. Most importantly, a major reduction in carbon emissions.”

But the scheme has not just given improvements in transport. Cllr Vikki Slade, BCP Council’s leader said: “Our relationship with Beryl has also benefited Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in another way, as they recently opened a new factory in Poole which assembles and services their bikes and e-scooters.

"This factory has created eight full-time jobs and is also providing supported internships for 16 to 24 year-olds with special educational needs.

“This MJ Award is definitely a win for both Beryl and BCP Council to proudly celebrate.”

The findings of the latest Beryl Annual Rider Report were obtained from 1,025 riders across BCP in September 2022 and showed that 40% of all riders asked had reduced their car usage since using Beryl - an increase of 26% on the previous year.

The report also showed that 50% of riders had used Beryl to connect with public transport, compared to just 26% the previous year. The average distance of those journeys was less than 2.5km, which also shows the increasing importance of bikeshare as an option for the first and last mile journeys.

Beryl’s BCP scheme recently celebrated its fourth anniversary by passing the major service milestone of replacing over 2m kilometres of road transport journeys - the equivalent of over 50 journeys around the Earth – with Beryl sustainable transport journeys.

Launched initially as a bike share scheme in partnership with BCP Council on 17 June 2019, the scheme has generated over 1.5m journeys, of which over 379,000 have replaced trips that would have been taken in a car, van, taxi or motorbike. 

According to industry calculations, this has led to a saving of nearly 270 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of nearly 16,000 litres of petrol. 

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

For more info, visit beryl.cc/scheme/bournemouth-christchurch-and-poole