By Justin Millar

Copyright belfastlive

The Belfast bikes have finally caught up with their international counterparts, with 100 e-bikes being added to the fleet and I was among the very first people to try them out the day they launched to the public. It was over a decade ago that the Belfast bike scheme was introduced with 30 docking stations and 300 bikes. Through the years it rose to 50 docking stations with 400 pedal bikes that spanned across the city. Although the number of bikes rose over the years, usage dropped to dropped to 123,386 in 2024 which was almost half of the usage in 2021 that sat at 236,570. Unfortunately, during this time the cost to repair the vandalism rose from £17,758 in 2021 to £37,909 in 2024 so it was clear something needed to change. So when Belfast City Council announced that they had appointed Beryl as the new operator for the scheme which meant that the city would finally receive e-bikes I thought it was great news. It was the perfect way to freshen up the scheme and bring it up to same level as other major cities. I will admit that I am a car user and definitely more than like to admit for journeys that could definitely be replaced by walking, public transport or indeed the Belfast bikes. I also hadn’t been on a bike in almost a decade to top it off so I was a little nervous but as the saying goes ‘it’s like riding a bike’ so I took the opportunity to try them out. The council along with the scheme’s sponsor Frank and Honest set up a session in the brand new City Quays Garden in the city centre to give the bikes a go. So I saddled up and off I went and I was immediately taken aback by the speed that it goes at when you’re on it. It initially feels like a normal bike and after a few seconds the electric part kicks in and it picks up quite a lot of speed which shocked me initially. This is definitely something to be mindful of if you’ve never used an e-bike before because I thought I would have to press something to get it going. Once I got the hang of it I actually really enjoyed myself on it and I really can see why these are so popular around the world. There is such little effort required in it so won’t feel as strenuous as a normal pedal bike. The bike also had something I thought was quite a good idea and that was a phone holder. As a chronic over user of maps this is something I would absolutely need and it would be even more useful for tourists who are trying to navigate Belfast for the very first time. However, I immediately identified a flaw in this and it is that my phone did not fit in the phone holder. I have one of the iPhones with a larger screen and I couldn’t get it into the holder. I will always hold my hands up and say this could be user error on my behalf but when I tried one of the smaller phones it fit fine. So this may be something they have to work on as phones are only getting bigger and bigger. To access the bikes you will need to download the new ‘Beryl’ app and register yourself. Once you have done that you will be able to hop on and get going. While I was there I picked up a flyer to have a look at the pricing structures. There was an introductory offer of a free 20 minutes when you downloaded the app and entered a code. After that the prices ranged from £7 for 100 minutes to 3,000 minutes for £120. Which is a marked difference from the previous scheme that offered riders an annual subscription for £25. This is definitely quite the jump and I suppose that entirely depends on how much you plan to use them. I do absolutely love when I see something new coming to the city and this is no different. This is a commuters dream, it will get you from ‘A to B’ with much less effort and let’s be honest much less sweaty. Well done to the team involved in getting the wheels on the ground and I hope that the scheme keeps expanding to even more areas connecting this brilliant city. I also really hope people take to the scheme well and also respect the bikes enough to leave them as they found them for the next person. For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here