Published on Thursday 29 June 2023
BCP Council wins the MJ Award for the UK’s Best Transport Decarbonisation Project. L to R: BBC News Anchor Huw Edwards, Dan Goss Workshop Leader of Beryl, Julian McLaughlin Service Director of Infrastructure BCP Council, Nick Philips Operations Team Leader of Sustainable Transport BCP Council, Martin Jolly Manager Beryl (Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole) and Robin Heap CEO of Zest (award sponsor).
BCP Council and Beryl have won the 2023 Municipal Journal (MJ) Award for the UK’s Best Transport Decarbonisation Project.
The national award was announced at the gala event at the Park Plaza in Central London on Friday 23 June, presented by BBC News at Ten anchor, Huw Edwards. The MJ Awards are considered the highest level of recognition in the UK local authority community.
In order to reduce congestion carbon emissions and encourage the use of healthy and sustainable forms of transport, BCP Council tendered for a Dockless Bike Share operator for a 5-year term. This contract was awarded to Beryl in 2019.
The bicycle hire scheme was introduced to help encourage a modal shift in transport, away from short car and vehicle journeys to more sustainable forms of transport. Congestion in the BCP Council region is particularly high and for example traffic research has shown that around 7000 commuters drive their cars on their own, less than 2km into Bournemouth each day. The scheme is aimed at reducing this congestion and the pollution it creates by offering an alternative, easily accessible and sustainable mode of transport around of area.
The scheme has been a great success with demand far exceeding expectation. Almost 198,000 users have undertaken more than 1.55 million journeys since the launch in Summer 2019, covering a distance of over 5.5 million kilometres.
Close collaboration between the partners has ensured the delivery of an innovative, safe, well managed scheme which in turn has provided the key outcome of encouraging modal shift away from cars and on to sustainable transport, with almost a quarter of all Beryl journeys replacing a car, van, taxi or motorbike journey.
On top of this, 35% of users have returned to cycling after a break and 47% are now cycling more often indicating that the desired long term behavioral change has occurred.
Beryl has recently celebrated its four year anniversary as the service provider in the BCP area and its distinctive green bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters are now a familiar site across the region.
Cllr Andy Hadley, BCP Council’s Portfolio Holder for Climate Response, Environment and Energy said:
"This award is wonderful news. It is fantastic that our scheme has been recognised with an MJ Award and my thanks go to all those at BCP Council and the team at Beryl who are involved in its delivery. The Beryl hire scheme has helped us to replace over 388,000 vehicle journeys and remove over 275 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide from our air, the equivalent of using nearly 120,000 litres of petrol.
"We are fortunate to have an excellent working partnership with Beryl and our close collaboration with them has ensured delivery of an innovative, popular, safe and well managed service."
Beryl CEO and co-founder, Phil Ellis, said:
"Our BCP scheme is a fantastic example of how we provide the best possible service for users by delivering in close partnership with cities and in consultation with communities and key stakeholders.
"This working model allows us to really encourage people out of their cars and onto more sustainable forms of transport, helping to reduce congestion and harmful carbon emissions while getting people active and improving public health.
"I’m delighted that this has been recognised with such a prestigious award and we will continue to build on our success and have an even greater impact on improving regional air quality."
The hire scheme has grown over the intervening four years with new and innovative forms of transport such as e-scooters and e-bikes being introduced to the hire fleet. Over 188,000 users have undertaking 1.5 million journeys since the launch in June 2019, covering over 5 million kilometres.
The main objective of the scheme is to encourage a change in travel mode, away from cars and other vehicles to more sustainable forms of transport, an aim which is being achieved. Using on-app questionnaires at the end of each trip, Beryl reports that 33% of journeys have replaced a motorised vehicle journey. Also, 35% of users have reported returning to cycling and 47% are now cycling more often as a result of using the Beryl hire service.
Robin Heap, Zest CEO, sponsor of the Best Transport Decarbonisation Award, said:
"We wanted this award to uncover projects that had delivered on more than carbon reduction, to create positive change in communities and in the local economy. It was no surprise that BCP Council was found to be a clear winner in a very strong field. The Bike Share project ticked all the boxes: high utilisation rates, a significant modal shift from motor vehicles, and long-term behavioural change. Most importantly, a major reduction in carbon emissions."
But the scheme has not just given improvements in transport. Cllr Vikki Slade, BCP Council’s leader said:
"Our relationship with Beryl has also benefited Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in another way, as they recently opened a new factory in Poole which assembles and services their bikes and e-scooters. This factory has created eight full-time jobs and is also providing supported internships for 16 to 24 year-olds with special educational needs.
"This MJ Award is definitely a win for both Beryl and BCP Council to proudly celebrate."