Norwich’s bike and scooter share scheme is set to expand to 10 new locations across the city.
The installation of additional Beryl Bays is aimed at further boosting the numbers of people using the scheme’s cycles, e-bikes and e-scooters.
Beryl-launch-E-scooters-trial-in-Norwich
Operator Beryl and Norfolk County Council hope the expansion will encourage residents and visitors to use the hire scheme for short journeys as the city further opens up this summer with the easing of lockdown restrictions.
The additional 10 bays to be installed at Park Lane/Avenue Road in the Golden Triangle, South Avenue at Thorpe River Green, Sprowston Retail Park, Prince of Wales Road, Pilling Park, Heigham Street, Watling Road, North Walsham Road/Allen’s Lane, Heartsease Lane and Lodge Lane.
The bays have been implemented in consultation with local communities.
Since its launch just as the pandemic began last March, the mobility scheme’s 400 bikes, e-bikes and scooters have been used for 97,000 separate journeys, covering more than 217,000 miles in total.
The expansion will bring the scheme’s number of bikes and scooters up to 635.
Beryl chief executive Phil Ellis said: “We have seen over the last year and a half that there is a huge appetite for people to take short journeys by bike or e-scooter.
“As life returns back to some sort of normality for many, we want to make it easier for people to make sustainable trips rather than hopping in their car, which clogs up our streets and pollutes our air.
“The installation of these additional bays will continue to make our scheme more accessible for people in Norwich, so that trips to local shops, cafes, offices or parks will be more attractive by bike or e-scooter.”
Norfolk County Councils said the scheme was a key part of its plan to improve public and sustainable transport through the Transforming Cities Fund.
Grahame Bygrave, director of highways and waste, said: “We are delighted to see the use of the Beryl scheme really taking off in Norwich and these new bays will only help it to grow further.
“The additional sites on Prince of Wales Road and Yarmouth Road will help maximise the benefit of the new bus and cycle lane currently under construction on Thorpe Road and shows how the scheme can support further Transforming Cities Fund proposals across the city.”
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