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Beryl has suspended its cycle hire scheme in Enfield just three months after arriving in the borough.
Over the summer, Beryl extended the closed pool bike scheme with Enfield Council and made it public. Unfortunately, due to a number of issues impacting the availability of the bikes, from today (October 1st) the public scheme will be suspended and operations will return to a closed pool bike scheme for council staff.
The news comes as a blow to Enfield Council, which had hailed the new scheme as the way forward in reducing car journeys in the area.
Philip Ellis, CEO of Beryl, said: “Beryl will continue to work closely with Enfield Council to support their long term plans for clean and active travel. We’ll also continue, with the support of the local Police, to investigate the vandalism. We will continue to review how Enfield can best be served by a public bike-sharing scheme and how we can work together.
“We want people who live and work in Enfield to be able to get about easily by bike; Alongside working with the council, Beryl is keen to connect with more community groups that can offer insight and guidance on integrating a public scheme and ensuring that it is widely accessible to the whole community.”
A company stated added: “We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers in Enfield who embraced the bike share scheme, gave us ideas and feedback, and shared stories of their rides in the borough.
“We are especially grateful for the many members of the community that have and continue to actively reach out to us and the police to notify us of instances of vandalism.”
The Beryl team will now review the existing parking bays, and continue working with the council, meaning the bays won’t be removed at this stage. “We hope they will continue to serve the public in providing bicycle parking space in the meantime,” said Beryl.
Enfield Council has not lost money from the suspension and that it holds hope that a solution will be found to allow its return. The brand will continue to operate throughout other areas of London.
