More bikes in more locations across the Island will ensure that more residents will have access to a rental bike making it easier to travel in a greener, healthier way.
The bikes were already available at 47 bays, but people will soon be able to hire 1 at a further 28 through the Breeze or Beryl app. This means that 75 bikes will be available at around 90 bays on the Island by the end of the summer, provided all planned bays are approved.
Solent Transport and the Isle of Wight Council, alongside Beryl, are delivering rental bikes to offer a more cost-effective and coordinated approach to transforming public transport as part of the Solent Future Transport Zone.
Councillor Phil Jordan is deputy chair of Solent Transport’s joint committee and Cabinet member for transport and infrastructure at the Isle of Wight Council.
He said:
“As Councillors across the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton, we are rightfully proud of how the Solent Transport partnership of local authorities is delivering sustainable transport options for residents and visitors.”
“The expansion of Beryl Bikes by Breeze makes it even easier for people to choose to travel on a cleaner and greener vehicle that reduces congestion on our road network.”
Both the Breeze and Beryl apps are available to download from the App Store for iOS and the Google Play Store for Android users. Once registered, people will be able to use the apps to simply pick up and drop off bikes at secure parking places close to where they live and work.
Phil Ellis, chief executive of Beryl, said:
“It’s great news that we’re able to further expand our bike and e-bike share schemes across the Solent region and enable even more people to take advantage of the excellent local cycling infrastructure.”
“The schemes have already had a significant impact on decarbonising the region’s transport network, preventing more than four tonnes of harmful carbon emissions and replacing almost 9000 car, van, taxi or motorbike journeys across Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight.”
“Our vehicles are fun, easy to use and cost-effective when compared to private vehicle ownership, removing the costs of fuel, tax, MOT, storage, insurance and maintenance, so why not give them a go this summer.”
So more Numpties can cycle side by side holding each other’s hands
making it dangerous for motorists who pay to be on the Road.
Think Cars and Vans
Two abreast or just taking the central position forces drivers to actually perform a proper overtaking by switching to the other lane – it encourages them to overtake only when it’s safe to do so.
In the past motorists would put cyclists in danger by overtaking even if conditions were bad, for example there was an incoming car on the other lane and driver though they can squeeze through.
If you are driving and think that overtaking at a specific moment is dangerous then don’t do it and wait for road conditions to allow to overtake safely.
John get real.
With the narrow island roads its bad enough with motorists overtaking single line cyclists. do the motorists wait until its safe to overtake? Not often. I have on quite a few occasions had to brake hard to allow in some idiot overtaking a cyclist on the wrong side of the road. Especially the large 4x4s that take up most of the road anyway. Cycling two abreast compounds the problem And please wear something bright so we can see you, not black.
> And please wear something bright so we can see you, not black.
Well. That was random and unrelated switch to victim-blaming, lol.
At night light is legally required. During a day it’s no different to spotting a pedestrian like a kid coming back home on a road with no pavement.
Plus you don’t pay to be on the road. You pay VED. If you get a vehicle without fumes exhaust, you don’t have to pay. Roads are funded by general taxation.
Cyclists, skateboarders, scooters, rollerbladers, pedestrians if there’s no pavement, horse riders and so on have a right to use the road if not otherwise restricted such as a highway.
If you need help learning how to drive safely and share the road with vulnerable road users, consider enrolling in a safe driving course.
Don’t rise to kn.j like that. Maggots have brains to.
You make two informative and factually accurate statements which then get a lot of ‘thumbs down’ symbols. It speaks volumes about current attitudes and makes for sad reading. No doubt my support of your comments will garner more thumbs downs!
Abreast cyclists are a curse in a mobile sandwich Most other road users hate cyclists as they stunt traffic and don’t even pay tax for the privilege !!
Roads are funded from general taxation.
If you want cyclists out of a road, build separated cycling infrastructure.
IDK about other road users hating cyclists… when I’m on a jog, on my rollerblades, or riding a horse I much more prefer to have an incoming bike rather than a car. Allowing cars on Red Squirrel but banning bikes for example would be HORRIBLE!
Also, bikes don’t stunt traffic. Have you ever seen one stuck in a jam? I haven’t and I’m from Amsterdam.
What’s causing traffic FOR YOU is space-inefficiency of your car vehicle. Nobody on a motorbike is bothered for example.
Bikes mix extremely well in a “mobile sandwich” – they can function just fine on a shared path cause they are built and ride within human scale. People, mopeds, scooters, skateboards, disability cars etc. mix just fine with them. Take a cheap flight from SOU to AMS and see for yourself pedestrianised zones without cars but full of people and bikes. They only don’t mix well with fast-driving motor rvehicles.
Cars don’t mix well with anything else other than other motor vehicles. Though even then they are quite dangerous to motorbikes, and quite vulnerable to big lorries. And to mix with pedestrians you need all the costly infra: lights, crosswalks, raised pavements. They mix terribly!
How delightful to have the chance to wobble about being lashed by rain and wind freeing up road space for the idle rich and drug dealing chavs to roar past you in comfort.
All in the name of ‘saving the planet’ like some fictitious super hero, or in reality an idiot as saving it for the illegals to inwardly take over.
Nice to see that even you wilbur are finally ‘seeing the light’, the power of the written word is mightier than the sword I guess.
Sauce for Goose…
I mean… nobody is forcing you to ride a bike, and cars still get like 98% of funding for infrastructure and fuel subsides anyway?
Less people making traffic jams, just give them separated cycling infrastructure like Red Squirrel Trail and if you want to keep driving a car, you will only benefit from less people on the road.
What you don’t like?
Prick of the first degree
Are you drunk?
I truly wonder just how many of these top Councillors and their families will be using these exposed and dangerous machines instead of their private and company cars, except of course for the ‘green photoshoot’
A case of do as I say, not do as I do.
Why ought we try to save the planets resources by making life harder for ourselves when boat loads of illegals continue to add to the pressures of our small land daily? They will all use far more energy, water, create sewage, and eventually end up with a car or using fossil fuels to better their lot in life, whilst our lives become a downward step to ‘cover’ the damage caused by so many extra people to create pollution and use resources here.
Immigrants are not a local government issue. It’s up to Tories to deal with that one and they are exactly not keen on policies saving the planet either.
As to whether councillors themselves will use them… I’m not sure if it’s important. There’s a demand from people so it’s answered with a supply.
We have to let them tell us what we have to have to do no choice and all to live by what they say using our own money to line their pockets what we have to live and more likely die, they loose our money on a floating bridge. Let’s have all of the councillors WORK for the people of the IW. Sod the parties.
local kids race these bike through ryde interchange onto the cycle lane and then slam the brakes on to create a good skid in front of their mates.
So report them…if their parents let them use them then they’ll get their license endorsement and it’ll soon stop…
Report them says quizzer – who to? if you call 101 you get the message “we are extremely busy and it may be a long time before your call is answered – if it isn’t urgent go online to our website and fill out the form”
by the time someone actually reads the form at hampshire police – the kids will have put the bikes back, gone home, had tea, been to sleep, got up had breakfast gone to their mates places and have repeated the process for about 5 days running.
and if you did get through and filed a report, the police will just cackle with laughter about investigating this crime of the century.
the answer is to GPS tag the bikes, ensure that a user has an account and a debit card logged with the website and charge by the mile.
– those ebikes and escooters already have GPS and report entire route
– you already need an account in the app and payment attached
– you get charged maybe not by the mile but per minute (standing still is still costing you money)
– for escooters you also need a driving license attached to your account
I’m not exactly sure why I’m getting thumbs down. I literally just confirmed that the ideas @ISLANDER had, and for which he got thumbs up, are already implemented. And suddenly it’s bad, thumbs down? 😀
Report them to who?
The police? Don’t be daft, they’re not interested.
What about wearing a helmet for safety??
Ask the Dutch, they seem to have a lot of research in that area.
Ian, these are the drunks favourite taxis they don’t care about public safety, a skill they inherited from the IWC .. Cllr Jordon hasn’t got a clue .., how do tourists get to the island !!! And what do they prefer to use whilst here .. their cars .. simple isn’t it.. but keep the gimmick going, these things are fatal accidents waiting to happen .. if you want the hire a bike use a bike rental company there’s plenty .. and the will make sure you are safety compliant before your start your ride.. stay safe don’t listen to Cllr Jordan .. you will never see him using one !!
I mean, Beryl literally IS bike hire company?
Why would you need a company to make sure you’re safety compliant? How do you use your own private bike? Do you ask a company to certify it before you leave home every time? No, you just check with yourself. Please, less nanny-ing about!
Are there any numbers showing that somehow those rental bikes are not safety complaint and caused a lot of serious accidents? Cause I doubt it.
Ian such is ONLY needed to protect the brain from any damage in the event of an accident.
Unfortunately it’s not a legal requirement, it should be made enforced though but the government don’t seem concerned about it!
Australia has such legal requirement yet they have far more fatal and serious cycling accidents than Netherlands where almost no one uses them. I say that as a Dutchie myself.
Helmets don’t help when you get wrecked by a lorry, and bike on bike collisions usually end up with a little bruise. Nobody makes joggers wear helmets either.
If you are really that concerned with cycling safety, propose more separated cycling infrastructure in your area, more double-yellows, 30mph speed limit and so on. That’s going to impact safety 100x more than helmets.
If helmets are not provided by Beryl to go with each cycle then all the green credentials they can list will mean very little to the rider snd their relatives if someone suffers a head injury or is killed.
I also wish they would scrap the electric scooters or employ staff to police their use as they are often driven illegally by underage people, two up or on pavements.
Profit rules again.
But to hire a scooter from Beryl you actually need a driving license (you don’t need one for a bike) so maybe you only think they’re underage? I’m 33 and still get asked for a under-19s discounts for example 😀
Wouldn’t be a bad idea to fill in all the pit holes and dangerous dents in the roads before you hire them out.
What next are they going to ban private ebikes as the their bike are so safe like the scooters
I guess all those car rentals led to banning private cars, eh?
No but private e scooters are from to roads but council e scooters aren’t. Eh?
Great ,more chavs on the pavements causing grief
I think this a brilliant development, a better, safer and, overall, a more legal approach than those lethal, apparently barely regulated, electric scooters.
I hope it starts a trend for Beryl to replace all the scooters with electric bikes.
I rely on,and use responsibly the scooters and have done since they’ve been introduced.. some of the comments are just hideous and narrow minded…
These licenced and insured scooters and bikes are far better than the free for that would happen otherwise.
“As Councillors across the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton, we are rightfully proud of how the Solent Transport partnership of local authorities is delivering sustainable transport options for residents and visitors well why don’t they make a good example and get out of there cars and use them and they will be helping the NHS by losing some weight as they keep telling us being fat and overweight and obesity which many of them suffer from will be good for all and they might get some work done
As it states no insurance ,,,,,, if one of the people using one of these play machines who’s going to pay the price if one of them causes serious accident or kills someone
Who pays now if cyclists, skateboarder, rollerblader and so on causes an accident like this?
What about joggers running fast?
Do those accident even happen so often to warrant worrying about this?
Cars have insurance cause they are massive 2000kg machines capable of killing a human in an instant and breaking down walls.
Statistically it just doesn’t make sense to worry so much about a 15kg machine equally much, and insurance is all about probability.
Ban them totally
Ban who? Cyclists? Skateboarders? Rollerbladers? Scooters? Horse riders? Joggers? Mailmen? Or all pedestrians?
That’s fine with me – but you need to provide pavement on Staplers Road (there are bus stops) and Old Rd in East Cowes (plenty of houses near school with no pavement available) and everywhere else. Oh, and plenty of crosswalks everywhere so I can go from one house to another.
beryl should provide cover to users and charge a premium to rent – not too difficult
Obviously fully compressive insurance is included, how about safety equipment, what happens when we encounter rain , snow and ice , waterproofs and stablisers, the hospital is already overflowing
Oh my, you better stay at home for your safety then! God bless!
They are a danger to other road users as well as people using the pavement. As for a greener enviroment ??
If you want a greener enviroment stop planes flying, stop cruise ships sailing, stop creating electric cars.
It’s all about making money. Nothing but money.
So how many people – road users and pedestrians – died to cars on IOW this year and how many to bikes? How many serious injuries caused per mode of transport?
For example in Newport town centre, lets say 5 last pedestrian deaths – cars or bikes?
Just asking cause if bikes are dangerous then I guess cars may turn up to be super duper ultra dangerous.
What?
As a road user (pedestrian* and horse rider) I much more prefer a bike passing near me rather than a car.
I find cars way more dangerous than bikes.
Or would you seriously go for a stroll on Staplers Road rather than Red Squirrel and say you feel safer with all the cars speeding there?
*yup, pedestrians are road users, plenty of places on IOW without à pavement
Any chance of having a station out here at Atherfield, we don’t have a bus call out here and it’s a long walk to Nippert, they don’t like us taking our tractors into town shopping.
All come with a Fire Service safety warning that your backside may explode and catch fire….
All this mindless speculation and total lies. How many Beryl bikes have been involved in accidents? The answer is none.
Ahhh Beryl haters just gonna keep on hating – the uneducated spouting witless misleading inaccurate tosh.