British bike share and e-scooter hire provider Beryl and Norwich-based B Corp digital agency, Selesti, have today announced an initiative that will see the shared bike and e-scooter service in the city free for all key workers during the current COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Aimed at increasing socially distanced transport choices for journeys between home and work, key workers will be able to access the scheme by signing up to the Beryl App. This will provide them with free rides, up to 60 minutes via bike and 30 minutes via e-scooter, for all bay to bay rides in the Norwich service area.

During the first lockdown Beryl supported over 10,000 free journeys for key workers across the UK with a series of initiatives across their services.

Phil Ellis, CEO of Beryl said “As the COVID-19 crisis continues, many people can’t stay home as they’ll be working to protect and aid the general public. We want to ensure these essential workers can still be mobile and maintain safe distances from others while travelling to and from their places of work. As such, we’ve partnered with Selesti to make Beryl bikes, e-Bikes and e-scooters temporarily free for NHS staff in Norwich, to help them get around and to say thanks for the important work they’re doing.” 

Ollie Blackmore, CEO of B Corp Certified digital agency, Selesti, said: “We’re delighted to support this initiative which will give our local key workers a free and flexible transport option. Not only does this help support them by saving money, it is an excellent way to reduce carbon emissions and stay fit and healthy. By providing 20,000 minutes, which Beryl will double to 40,000, we hope this is a small but important gesture that says thank you to all NHS staff in Norwich.”

Selesti initially pledged 10,000 minutes of free transport to key workers which Beryl matched, however after this initial offer was snapped up within hours, both companies decided to double the amount of time provided, increasing accessibility to even more key workers across the city.

Councillor Martin Wilby, Norfolk County Council’s cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport said, “We are delighted with the popularity of the Beryl scheme since its launch last year and it's fantastic that local key workers will once again be able to use it for free. Every car journey we replace in this way improves local air quality, reduces congestion on our roads and our overall carbon footprint, which is exactly what the scheme is about.”

The initiative is live from today and will continue indefinitely with Beryl and Selesti monitoring the free rides throughout the duration of the UK lockdown.