Jane's Midlife Journey

The perfect way to get around Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is to hire a Beryl Bike or Beryl Scooter. The 1150 bikes and scooters reside mostly in bays (marked by green painted rectangles) of which there are 355 across the three towns. But they could, theoretically, be anywhere. Just locate the nearest bike or scooter on the Beryl App, unlock it and off you go…

How to unlock a Beryl Bike/Scooter

Once you have uploaded the Beryl App to your phone, you can use it to locate your nearest bike or scooter. There are 100 bikes, 450 scooters and 600 e-bikes available, so the nearest one should never be too far away. Then, simply unlock it by scanning the code on the handlebars or entering the vehicle’s six digit code into the App.

When you’ve finished, just lock the bike and confirm to the App that you have ended your journey. You can leave a bike/scooter anywhere, but if you park outside a marked bay, there is an additional fee. Similarly, if you park outside the Beryl Zone – which extends across the whole of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, an additional fee will apply. A scooter will disable itself if you reach a No Go Zone.

Beryl Prices

There are a number of different tariffs depending on how long or how often you plan to cycle for:

Bike

• You can Pay as you Ride, which costs 8p per minute, plus an additional £1 unlock fee.
• Alternatively, you can purchase a Minute Bundle. Options are 50 minutes (£5), 100 minutes (£8), 200 minutes (£14) or 400 minutes (£24). This also equates to as little as 6p per minute, but incurs no unlock fee. Bundles can be used over an indefinite period of time.
• A Day Pass costs £16 and is valid for all vehicles. You can ride for up to 400 minutes on a pedal bike over a 24 hour period.
• Finally, a Flexi Pass costs £45 and is valid for 30 days. The pass entitles you to up to 500 minutes of any vehicle hire, which is doubled for cycling. So, if you only use a pedal bike, you would get 1000 minutes (16 hours 40 minutes). Assuming you utilise all your entitlement within the time frame, this equates to 4.5p a minute.

E-Bike

For E-bikes, of which there are now 600, the following prices apply:

• Pay as you Ride costs 17p per minute, plus an additional £1 unlock fee.
• Or you can use the Minute Bundle, which also incurs a £1 unlock fee.
• The Day Pass costs £16 and you can ride for up to 200 minutes over a 24 hour period.
• Finally, the Flexi Pass costs £45 and entitles you to up to 500 minutes of e-bike hire. This equates to 9p a minute.

Scooter

• Pay as you Ride costs 20p per minute, plus the £1 unlock fee.
• The Minute Bundle, Day Pass and Flexi Pass options are the same as for e-bikes.

Other Charges

As mentioned above, you may leave a vehicle wherever you want, however:

• Parking outside a marked bay incurs a £5 charge.
• Parking outside the Beryl Zone triggers a £10 fee. Plus an additional £80 recovery fee if the vehicle is not brought back into the zone within 24 hours.
• Leaving a bike unlocked costs £10.

Rules

You must be over 16 to hire any vehicle and hold a driving licence to hire a Beryl Scooter.

It is not permitted to cycle/scoot on the Promenade between 10 am and 6 pm in July and August, even though there are bike bays located there. For the rest of the year, the Prom speed limit is 10 MPH. Here, and in other designated No-Go and Go-Slow Zones, scooters are programmed to slow down to 10 MPH or stop completely, so be prepared.

Lessons

If you are nervous about riding a scooter for the first time, free online (and sometimes in-person) training courses are available with Beryl’s Scoot Happy scheme.

• Updated: September 2025

I hope you found this information useful. For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth here.