With almost 200,000 e-bike journeys across more than 450,000 kms in its first 20 months, Beryl’s Plymouth scheme has no doubt had a successful start.
We ultimately aim to break down the barriers to active travel for people, so generating sustainable journeys should be viewed as a key metric of success.
After all, contributing towards cutting congestion, improving air quality and boosting public health are the main drivers for investment in shared transport schemes.
While that is true, as a B-Corp company and winner of a King’s Award for Enterprise, Beryl looks to go beyond service provision by also aiming to have a positive social impact on the towns and cities we serve.
Plymouth and social prescription
In Plymouth, Beryl uses the social prescription approach to connect people to activities, groups, and services in their community. In practice, this means that we offer people free 400 Minute Bundles to use our e-bikes across the city. The offer is for those provided with social prescribing by health professionals, who refer patients for support within their community.
The bundles are distributed by Plymouth City Council in partnership with The Wolseley Trust, a community economic development trust that works with a wide range of partners to deliver health and wellbeing initiatives.
In the first year, they have been prescribed to and redeemed by 112 different people for whom free cycling has been deemed beneficial to their mental and/or physical health. On average, the bundles have been used 22 times per user, generating nearly 500 hours of physical activity. Analysis of their use also shows that 20% of the journeys taken are over 5km, which is much higher than the average distance, as well as high daytime ridership. This indicates that the socially prescribed e-bikes are predominantly being used for leisure rides and health improvement. This ties in with the main aim of the scheme, rather than providing a free transport alternative. Anecdotal rider feedback also tells us that our e-bikes’ electric assist makes the vehicles more appealing to people with mobility issues, which broadens the scope of those that can benefit.
Beryl’s Strategic Partnerships Lead, Ben Lee, oversees the scheme and knows how valuable it can be to communities.
He said: “We’ve been really pleased with the impact that social prescribing has had in Plymouth and know that it has helped different groups of people to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing.
“The key for us now is to build on its initial success and see how we can do more, whether that’s mirroring what we’ve done elsewhere by introducing initiatives like cycle confidence sessions or doing led rides. Ultimately, it’s good to know that we are making a positive difference to people’s lives.”
Bikespace and Beryl – forging strong community ties
Beryl subcontracts the on-street management of its Plymouth scheme to Bikespace, meaning they are responsible for the logistics and maintenance of the 510 e-bike fleet.
Bikespace is a Plymouth-based not-for-profit social enterprise that aims to develop and boost communities through a shared love of bikes. They support young people in education with vocational training, teaching them how to refurbish bicycles for the community and enabling them to gain valuable experience for further education and employment.
Their community impact is considerable and, in the past year, they have:
- Recycled and sold 182 bikes
- Had 51 participants in Cycling UK accredited maintenance courses
- Had 111 open workshop attendees
- Supported 12 young people in gaining an AQA award in Bicycle Mechanics
- Enabled 29 adults to gain trail riding experience
- Provided free bike servicing and maintenance to the community at 12 community Dr Bike events
Director, Robbie Kelly, said that the Beryl contract has had a significant impact, helping them to expand and create ten extra jobs.
“Through this (contract) we have helped several people out of unemployment and allowed employees to gain valuable skills that have led them into apprenticeships and careers after a time with us. I personally feel like the cycle share scheme promotes social value by nature, but it is great to see Beryl, as a company, investing in a small local business and creating jobs as part of that.”
Robbie said that, since the contract began in March 2023, there had been many examples of it helping individuals to get ahead, gain employment and improve their situations.
He added: “We currently have two former apprentices working in the Beryl team, one was our first ever student to attend Bikespace and one was a young employee who joined on an apprenticeship. They both gained Cytech levels 1.2 and 3 and moved on to other jobs after these qualifications were achieved.
“Another staff member came to us through our bike courses and applied for a full-time role within the Beryl workshop after being long-term unemployed. They gained experience and skills that allowed them to move on and gain an apprenticeship elsewhere in a different field.
“We also have various volunteers who come to us through our courses who help in the Beryl workshop on an ad-hoc basis but love getting involved in a scheme that helps the local community.”
Building on the foundations
By adopting a community-focused approach to delivery, we’ve seen that it’s possible to run a well-used scheme that can have a wider positive impact.
As well as Plymouth, Beryl currently runs social prescribing schemes under our three newest local authority partnerships – Guildford, Stevenage and Worcester. The plan is to continue monitoring the impact on those areas, with a view to expanding the initiative to benefit other towns and cities.
The company will also look for further opportunities for community subcontracting, following the successes of both the Plymouth Bikespace and Hereford Pedicargo community partnerships.
Bikespace is also looking to the future, with plans to provide even more work experience, up-skilling and employment opportunities over the coming months.
Robbie added: “Within our Bikespace workshop we will be continuing to work with vulnerable youths three days a week as our core activity. We hope to find a suitable engaged student to fill a vacant apprenticeship role and will also be continuing to run our flagship adult engagement programme “trail therapy”. This scheme tackles loneliness and isolation through riding bikes and learning new skills.”
