Glasgow bike-share first in Scotland to trial Beryl Laserlight

Glasgow bike-share scheme nextbike has announced it will be the first in Scotland to be fitted with Beryl’s innovative projection Laserlight.

The trial will see 350 Beryl Laserlights fitted to the nextbikes in November, as the winter nights start getting darker.

Beryl’s laserlight, which improves visibility up to 30%, combines a front light with a laser that projects a bike symbol on to the road six metres ahead. This technology prevents cyclists from going unseen in drivers’ blind spots, making them more visible on the road and alerting other road users and pedestrians to their presence.

The launch of the lights will coincide with the addition of 150 new bicycles, which will be added to the fleet next month.

Krysia Solheim, nextbike Commercial Director, said: We’re continually looking at ways to improve the experience our customers have when riding with us and while the lights we currently have on all of our bikes are brilliant, we believe that beryl’s Laserlights are the next step up.

“Research has show that 75% of cyclists surveyed say they feel more confident cycling with a Laserlight too, so we hope their addition will mean people will continue to use nextbikes confidently during the darker winter months.”

The Glasgow scheme, which currently has 500 bikes and 62 docking stations, recently clocked up its 500,000th rental.

Councillor Anna Richardson, Glasgow City Council’s City Convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction, said: “Safety is a critical issue for people who cycle and I am very pleased that nextbike are making their hire bikes more visible just in time for the clocks going back.

“We want cycling to remain a viable active travel option during the winter months and anything that helps to improve visibility on the roads is greatly welcomed. Glasgow’s nextbike scheme is proving to be hugely popular and I hope the introduction of the Laserlight will encourage more people to see using a nextbike as an accessible, everyday way to get around town.”

The bikeshare scheme is available for use 24 hours a day, with users able to register and hire bikes in a couple of minutes from as little as 16p a day.

Founder of Beryl, Emily Brooke, said of the partnership: “Our mission is to get more people in cities on bikes, so we are incredibly excited to be partnering with nextbike, letting us deliver the safety benefits of our Laserlight technology at scale to city cyclists in Glasgow.”