New Beryl bike hire scheme is launched for Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight

Hundreds of bikes and e-bikes will be rolled out across the region as part of an initial two-year trial with plans in place to take the total to more than 1,000 by the spring.

Beryl Bikes will run the £2m Solent Transport-commissioned scheme, which had originally been scheduled to launch in the summer, through the Breeze app created for the council partnership.

Its chairwoman councillor Lynne Stagg, who is also the cabinet member for transport at Portsmouth City Council, said she hoped the availability of 100 of each bike in the city would boost efforts to encourage the use of more sustainable travel options.

'We started looking at a bike hire scheme four or five years ago but the pandemic came and that had to be put on hold,' she said at the launch event at The Hard interchange in Portsea. ‘It’s great we now have one in place and I'm sure it will be a success

'It's particularly great for Portsmouth because we are a city of terraced houses and we want to cut down on our dependence on cars to reduce congestion and pollution which kills 100 people here every year.'

She said the availability of the bikes, which will largely be focused at 38 sites across the city centre for now, would complement the Voi e-scooters and council aims to increase bus usage.

One hundred of each type of bike have now been made available, a similar number to Southampton while no electric bikes will be placed on the Isle of Wight. All bikes in Portsmouth will be stored on a rack system.

The council said that at the end of the roll-out in April, 250 bikes and 450 e-bikes would be provided at 90 locations.

Beryl CEO Phil Ellis said the scheme would allow people to 'take advantage of the excellent cycling infrastructure' in place across the Solent region.

'Beryl Bikes by Breeze has been designed to provide the best possible service for users by being delivered both in partnership with the local authority and in consultation with communities and key stakeholders,' he said.

The 'super app' can be used to hire both e-scooters and bikes and it is expected that in the near future it will be expanded to cover bus, train and ferry travel as well.

Bikes will be available to anyone aged 16 and above and are charged on a 'pay-as-you-ride' system at a £1 unlock fee and 5p per minute for regular bikes and £1.50 plus 10p per minute for the electric versions.

Southampton City Council cabinet member for transport Eamonn Keogh said the scheme was ‘a significant step’ in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions and increase active travel.

‘Increasing the number of journeys being taken by bike is one of the five themes of the council’s Green City Plan 2030,’ he said.

Councillor Phil Jordan, the Isle of Wight Council cabinet member for transport, said he hoped the availability of bikes would build on its e-scooter rental scheme, also run by Beryl.

Funding was provided by the Department for Transport through the Solent Future Transport Zone.