Herefordshire’s Beryl bike-sharing scheme will cost the county nearly £87,000 in the current financial year.

But head of transport Coun John Harrington says the scheme has performed well in Hereford and will expand.

In the first three years of its operation starting in 2019, about a third of a million pounds of Government money was spent establishing the scheme in the city.

Now that funding is ended, Herefordshire Council will spend £86,942 of its revenue budget on the scheme in the year to the end of this month.

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The figure emerged in response to questions by Conservative councillor Nigel Shaw to a cabinet meeting on March 2.

Coun Harrington said that 200 pedal-power and 72 electric bikes are currently available to the public, and that the cost related to the infrastructure associated with the scheme, not to the bikes themselves which the council does not own.

“The number of electric bikes is set to increase to 102 over the next few months,” he added.

“In the entirety of the scheme, we’ve lost two bikes, which is fantastic. One ended up in a tree on fire, one was thrown in the river, right at the beginning.

“Since then we have had the lowest level of vandalism in the country and the other parts of the world where Beryl have bikes. They praise Herefordians.”

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He paid tribute to the previous Conservative administration for bringing in the scheme, “which we will continue to support”.

“When we have consultations, even people who are very road-minded praise Beryl and would like to see more bays, so we are working hard on that,” Coun Harrington added.

The network currently has 65 bays around the city where the distinctive bright green bikes can be picked up using a dedicated app, and deposited.

He thanked Coun Shaw for his contributions over two electoral terms, and said it was “a shame that a councillor of his quality is stepping down”.

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