The BoRo beach bike, which arrived in Ryde to much fanfare last year, will not be returning to the northern shores of the Isle of Wight in 2019, it has been announced.
The unique 17-seater vehicle offered a variety of themed tours, from sightseeing to fitness and afternoon tea to business networking. Each round trip began at Ryde Pier Head and continued all the way along the Esplanade to Appley and Puckpool Park.
Owner of the eco-friendly method of transport, Dominic Wong, says he has been tirelessly working over the Winter to overcome ‘issues’. Mr Wong says that bureaucracy has put the brakes on his entrepreneurial venture.
Dominic has today said:
“I want to thank everyone on the Isle of Wight for their support, enthusiasm and encouragement over the last few months. I am absolutely gutted.
“Of course BoRo won’t sit still, and the next BoRo experience will launch in Bournemouth this Summer at the Royal Bath Hotel”.
What are the issues then ?
Hello. Issue with the Department of Transport changing their advice on what kind of licence was needed.
If it can run in Bournemouth. Why can’t it run here ?
It’s not running in Bournemouth. It is a different business venture called A Right Royale Tea, a comedy afternoon tea experience. It would be quite tricky to run a bike inside a hotel!
I suspect it was not just “bureaucracy” that stopped it. Seemed to always be on charge at Ryde Pier Head with no one using it. And we lost some handy bike racks. Maybe he’ll get these put back now???
No it was bureaucracy from the Department of Transport. Wasn’t always on charge. Check out the Facebook page to see how popular it was!
Another brilliant initiative turns to dust. I witnessed first hand how popular this was last year along the Esplanade and how popular it is in places like Madrid. Terrible pity, how disheartening.
Thank you. We are gutted.
What Dominic has failed to do is win over the local residents and businesses who would support it as a tourist attraction and it is a great idea, but you don’t setup in Winter and expect everyone to rush to it.
This island is a holiday destination, so you need two jobs really, this would have been a great social enterprise, nothing stopping anyone else restarting the concept. Just make sure you find out what issues you face and FFS, give your business time to mature and awareness to grow. It takes 3 years to get through survival phase so this sounds to me like another university degree education wasted. You don’t learn about people from books Im afraid. And you can’t just come here and tread on everyones toes and not expect them to chase you down the road with our pricing guns!
Just publicise your real issue, let us all learn from your experience if you’re going to give up, but don’t give up just because you’re getting initial friction. But you can’t learn to do that from a book. Experience is invaluable time spent making mistakes as well as successes. Come on, I know you’re reading this, tell your community what you need and watch how helpful we can be if we understand your situation. The island protects its own first. You have to become an islander to know that. So show us it’s beneficial for us beyond being a “Pimp my Bicycle” exercise machine flash in the pan idea and you may just start to change perceptions and social interactions which wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. We should all welcome that.
If you’re bowing out anyhow, then do please tell us what the story isn’t and how you are finding authority paperwork too much for the business and you may get some help. A problem shared is a problem halved remember.
Go on son, put the boot in young un!
I bless you all with my ✋, my yellow hand (don’t ask why it’s yellow)
John the Baptist 19.37
: )
Hello, yes I am reading this and it’s a shame you are making judgements on reading just this article. I launched this in July, in the Summer, and I would love to have given it a try for much longer. I have had incredible support from residents and business both in Ryde and the Isle of Wight and I am so grateful for their positivity and support (particularly within the council) You just need to do a bit of research first to see this (read the comments on the Facebook page and in this thread too)
Unfortunately the Department of Transport has changed their advice to me and informed me in September I need a different kind of licence, one which is impossible for me to get. I have been speaking to my local MP since October on this issue (who said the decision was ‘daft’) and have been in contact with various people, including Chris Grayling, and many departments within the Department of Transport. So this is a much bigger issue than the Isle of Wight.
Thank you for your concern and your advice. I am learning from my mistakes and the BoRo Bike is not dead yet. I need to rethink the business plan. In the meantime I have launched a new tourism experience (from my learnings – both successes and mistakes) within the ethos of the BoRo brand – fun, frolics and uniqueness with a comedy afternoon tea experience which will debut in Bournemouth this summer (it’s called http://www.ARightRoyaleTea.co.uk if you are interested!). You never know, it may come to the IoW sometime soon!!!
All the best and I have no idea how to put a hand emoji on this :o)
That is such a shame as it was a great tourist attraction. Shame on the people who has made it stop going.
Thank you
Shame ,we met these guys at Eklectica seemed very popular there and looked such good fun.
Thank you. We are gutted!
What a shame. It was an ideal tourist attraction. All over the world, people enjoy this type of transport, on their holidays.