Popular cycle hire scheme is set to expand to Croxley Green

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, deputy council leader, said: “This is great news and is something I and the council have pushed for over three years. Now with joint agreement with Watford and funding from Three Rivers, this is a reality.

“The council has always been and remains committed to sustainable travel in order to reduce the number of private vehicles used for short journeys and cut air pollution.

“This is a two-year pilot with five base sites in Croxley Green, and so the council will monitor how successful this scheme is until 2026. I hope that this can be rolled out across the district so all of our residents outside Croxley Green can have easy access to a Beryl Bike and get all of the benefits of cycling.”

Residents will be able to ride on the turquoise e-bikes to and from Watford, Bushey and in the district following the agreement at December’s Policy and Resources meeting to expand the Beryl Bike scheme to the area for a two-year period.

The scheme has been expanded to meet user demand and provide opportunities to promote sustainable travel while also meeting the district’s aims to promote cycling as a cheaper, fun, healthy, reliable and adaptable form of transport.

Three Rivers District Council will be contributing £45,000 from its sustainable travel capital programme budgets for the two-year pilot to fund the 15 e-bikes at five sites. The five locations in Croxley Green are being finalised and may need Herts County Council approval, but are expected to include Croxley Library and Station, shopping parades in Baldwins Lane and near All Saints Church. It is hoped they will be live by the end of March or earlier.

The e-bikes can be used across Three Rivers; however, there are no docking sites outside of Croxley Green, Bushey and Watford – so they will need to be returned at a docking location at the end of each use. Users will still be charged by the minute when they dismount if the e-bike is not returned.

The Beryl Bike scheme has been operating in Watford since 2020 and has been a success – with over 33,000 users signed up and more than 350,000 journeys taken, covering 1.1 million kilometres.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ash Trowe, of Beryl Bikes, with Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst.

PHOTO CAPTION: Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst riding a Beryl Bike at Croxley Common Moor.