Beryl and COVID-19
Staying safe while using shared bikes and scooters
As the pandemic continues, cycling or jumping on a scooter is a great way to maintain social distance as it is a contact-free and low-risk way to travel. People are avoiding crowded trains and buses, and our bikes and scooters are being used more frequently. Our vehicles are an important part of the public transport system allowing contact-free payment for everyone, including key workers to travel safely. That's why we're doing everything we can to keep vehicles available for safe public use and maintain service.
We know there are concerns about the possibility of the bikes spreading the virus as they are used by various people throughout the day so we want to be clear about what we're doing to protect you, and what we need riders to do to make sure we can keep bikes and scooters available for those who rely on them.
What we're doing at Beryl
The vast majority of the Beryl team are working from home, with only key operation staff still travelling locally to our sites. Those who are working on-site test regularly and maintain social distancing while at work. The local Beryl teams are equipped with antibacterial spray to disinfect the bikes and scooters whenever they come into contact with them: in the workshop, when loading and unloading from a van, and when the bikes are repositioned from bay to bay.
Thanks to generous support from Poole-based company Muc-Off, we're equipped with plenty of high-quality antibacterial supplies and will continue to use these to disinfect areas of our vehicles with lots of contact. Beryl operational staff are instructed to wash hands regularly and use gloves at all times when interacting with public bikes and scooters.
However, due to the way our vehicles move around operating zones, it’s not operationally possible for us to disinfect between each ride and also keep the service running for everyone who needs it.
What riders need to do
As we can't disinfect the bikes between every ride, we ask our riders to take sensible precautions when using the vehicles, as they would with any other surface they share with others.
- Wash your hands before and after riding a bike. If you can’t wash your hands immediately before riding, you can use an alcohol-based sanitiser.
- Wear gloves to ride. Wash your gloves after use, or dispose of them safely after riding if you have single-use ones.
- Avoid touching your face when you haven't washed your hands or are wearing gloves that may have picked up the virus.
- Consider other users and follow social distancing guidelines from the government and stay at least 2 metres away from other people.
- Do not use a bike if you are self-isolating as you are unwell with coronavirus symptoms or because someone in your household is unwell. If you become ill with suspected symptoms of coronavirus while riding a bike then you should stop riding and access information about what to do next via online NHS 111.
All our riders will be reminded of this information via messaging in-app, and up to date advice can be found in our help centre or by contacting our customer service team by email or in-app chat.