Manchester’s Beryl Scheme - Could it ‘Bee’ Better?

We commuters and students are all too familiar with the tedious journey from Fallowfield, down Wilmslow Road, past Lidl and finally on to our destination, be it work or university. But all hope might not be lost. In the bustling streets of Manchester, a new transport revolution has taken place. Could our unlikely saviour from the busy commute take the form of a simple yellow bike? Let us take a look at the hidden world of economics and how it can show us the benefits and drawbacks of the Beryl bike hire scheme.

Behavioural Economics and Economic Benefits

Generally, bike hire schemes are an example of ‘nudge’ economics, a way of incentivising people into behaving a certain way. Cycling is good for you, it has numerous health benefits, both physical and mental. Looking at the Barclays bike scheme in London implemented by Transport for London (TFL). “It (TFL) enabled behavioural change… taking the hassle out of cycling - buying a bike, maintenance, storage - and providing a compelling proposition for consumers” (McCormik, 2011). No longer did people need to worry about paying large up-front costs for a bike or worry about maintaining them. Nowadays, more people than ever cycle to work in London and has partly contributed (among other factors) to reduced congestion, demonstrating this change in behaviour that TFL wanted.

Turning our attention towards Manchester, In November 2021 Manchester City Council rolled out the Beryl bike hire scheme, one where people could hire pedal bikes for only 5 pence a minute. The scheme has become massively popular, with its bikes and e-bikes generating over 320,000 journeys across more than 800,000km (Beryl, 2023) since the scheme’s implementation. You may be thinking, how can hopping on a Bee bike impinge on the unfamiliar world of economics?

Choosing to cycle as your morning commute causes what we economists call a ‘positive externality’ - where the use of a good or service benefits a third party without them paying for it. By cycling on a Bee bike, you are paying Beryl for their service and they are providing it, in other words, a transaction between only two parties. However, more people benefit from this transaction than you might expect. By choosing to cycle instead of driving or taking the bus, you are inadvertently improving things for a third party, namely residents of Manchester.

Said residents are benefitting from the improved air quality and decreased noise pollution due to relatively fewer cars or buses on the road. According to industry calculations carried out by Beryl, the scheme has saved over 22 tonnes of carbon (Beryl 2023) and “Every year walking and cycling in GM saves: 48,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, 97,000 kg of NOx and 14,000 kg of particulates” (Sustrans 2021). Further, due to fewer people driving there is less congestion, meaning people can get to work quicker and use less petrol sitting in traffic.

So, what does this all mean? The hidden world of everyday economics has shown us that as you are cycling on your Bee bike, you are inadvertently making things better for people all around you without even realising it. Just think of all the happy Mancunians who are benefitting from your actions!

How Do We Address the Need for People to Act Responsibly?

The closer we look at the Beryl scheme, we can see more examples of economic scenarios at play, such that maybe we can explain a few of the issues with the bike scheme. Behavioural economics - the study of choices made by economic decision makers - helps to uncover a few of these issues.

Stemming from the field of behavioural economics, the ‘endowment effect’ is the tendency for individuals to value an item more when they own it rather than when they do not. Since people only ‘rent’ the bee bikes and do not outright own them, many of the bikes are discarded when people have finished their journeys, demonstrating that people care less about these bikes as they are not technically theirs. People may decide to cycle recklessly, potentially damaging parts of the bike. Numerous instances of vandalism and theft have also been reported in recent years.

Figure 1: Repair and Missing Bike Rate Changes. (Burnham,2023)

As a result, the scheme is experiencing teething problems and has led to a decrease in the availability of Bee bikes, such that the BBC estimated that “More than half the (Beryl) bikes in Manchester need repairs” (BBC, 2023) and that only 379 of the 943 bikes are in circulation around Salford, Trafford, and Manchester. Only 40% of the bikes are on the roads and is an example of what us economists call ‘the tragedy of the commons’; when people cannot be stopped from using the bikes which ‘uses up’ bike availability for other people. It is through people acting in their own self-interest, that the number of bikes in need of repairs has been increasing since March 2023. The issues that manifest due to this tragedy of commons are such that commuters and students are not being able to get to work and university due to the lack of bikes.

Bibliography and Wider Reading

BBC. “More than Half of Bikes in Greater Manchester Hire Scheme Need Repairs.” BBC News, 27

June 2023, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-66034291.

Beryl. “Success for Greater Manchester Bike Share Scheme | Beryl.” Beryl.cc, 2023, beryl.cc/news/2023/05/05/success-greater-manchester-bike-share-scheme.

Burnham, Andy. GMCA Overview and Scrutiny Committee. 2023.

McCormick, Andrew. “Behavioural Economics: When Push Comes to Nudge.” Www.campaignlive.co.uk, 11 May 2011, www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/behaviouraleconomics-when-push-comes-nudge/1070184.

Pidd, Helen, and Helen Pidd North of England editor. “Andy Burnham: Don’t Throw Manchester

Hire Bikes in the Canal.” The Guardian, 10 Nov. 2021, www.theguardian.com/uknews/2021/nov/10/andy-burnham-dont-throw-manchester-hire-bikes-in-the-canal.

Sustrans. Walking and Cycling Index 2021. 2022.

Ze, Zhang, et al. “Externalities of Dockless Bicycle-Sharing Systems: Implications for Green Recovery of the Transportation Sector.” Economic Analysis and Policy, Aug. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2022.08.009.