Hundreds of Beryl Bikes vandalised in Plymouth

Hundreds of electric Beryl Bikes have been vandalised or gone missing since they arrived in the city less than a year ago. The company behind the rentable e-bike scheme said it sometimes needs to get divers or police to retrieve the bikes from underwater or from people’s homes. London-based sports goods company Smidsy Ltd, which runs the Beryl Bikes scheme, urged people to look after the bicycles and not smash them up or fail to return them.

It said it will call in police to investigate thefts or criminal damage and can ban people from using the vehicles. Smidsy introduced the bikes to Plymouth in March 2023 and is working towards having a 500-strong fleet for hire from more than 90 sites in the city with the Royal William Yard and due to be added this year. But it has today revealed that last year there were 237 reports of vandalism to its bikes.

In 2023, 154 bikes were tagged as “missing” in the city, but, fortunately, 132 were recovered. The company said that this week four bikes were classed as “lost” and 20 were “missing”. A spokesperson for the Beryl Bikes scheme said: “Lost is where we have deemed the asset as unrecoverable.

Missing is where we know the bike is, but recovery may not be straightforward – we may need to get a diving team or need police to recover it from a property, etc – so we haven’t reclaimed it yet. ” Smidsy also runs a Beryl Bikes scheme in Cornwall, where there were 64 reports of vandalism in the past year, with 289 vehicles tagged as “missing”and 262 recovered. This week there were six “lost” bikes in the county and four were “missing”.

Each Beryl Bike has sensors and uses GPS technology to alert the IT system to what is happening with the cycle, and can tell if it has been left outside a parking area. Alerts are processed, logged and quickly made available to on-street teams who can collect the bike and either bring it in for repair or move it to another bay, within an hour, to “rebalance” the supply of bikes. The spokesperson said: “It’s always disappointing to see the results of vandalism or antisocial behaviour and we would appeal to anyone misusing the bikes to please respect them and ensure they are available for other people to use.

We will work with to investigate any incidents of theft or criminal damage and retain the option to suspend and ban/remove accounts for improper use of the scheme. ” The spokesperson said people can report incidents of vandalism or antisocial behaviour involving the e- bikes quickly and easily to the customer support team by phone on 0203 0035044 between 7am and 9pm Mon-Sun, by email at support@beryl. cc or through the Beryl app.

For emergencies, contact 999. Smidsy as part of the city council’s new Connect Plymouth initiative to offer more sustainable ways to get around. The e-bikes were launched with a fanfare in the city centre with people given the chance to try one out.

Smidsy introduced a payment model described as “pay as you ride, or buy up front and save”, which means cyclists can pay for a single ride or multiple journeys. Beryl Bike users have to download an app to hire the bikes. They pay a £1 fee to unlock the cycle, and then are charged 15p a minute.

A 10-minute cycle would cost £2. 50 for example. Alternatively there are “minute bundles” available, with a 50-minute hire costing £7.

50; 100 minutes at £15; 200 minutes at £30 or £400 minutes at £60. There is no unlocking fee with these bundles. However there are other “fees” if riders don’t put the Beryl Bikes away properly at the end of a ride.

A £10 “convenience fee” is charged for bikes left outside of a Beryl Bay, and if someone locks a bike outside an “operating zone” the “convenience fee” jumps to £25. If the bike is not brought back into the operating zone within 24 hours, an additional £80 fee will be charged to cover the cost of recovering the bike. And riders are being urged to make sure they lock the bikes at the end of their jaunt, whether inside or outside a bay – otherwise a flat fee £10 will be charged to cover the cost of an “operations team” being sent out to lock the bike.

Last year, and together cycled the equivalent of almost five times around the Earth. They were used for more than 75,000 journeys, covering almost 200,000km, and directly replacing 19,575 private-vehicle journeys. That means more than five tonnes of carbon emissions were saved.

With 26,685 people signed up to the scheme, users clocked up 21,158 hours of physical activity. There are plans to expand both the Plymouth and Cornwall schemes this year, starting this spring when further bays will be added to areas where there is more demand. This includes docking stations at Royal William Yard and St Budeaux in Plymouth.

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