Beryl (a trading name of SMIDSY Limited) is a British company which produces bicycle sharing systems and

bicycle lights Bicycle lighting is illumination attached to bicycles whose purpose above all is, along with reflectors, to improve the visibility of the bicycle and its rider to other road users under circumstances of poor ambient illumination. A secondary p ...

Company

The company's founder,

Emily Brooke Emily Sophie Hastings Brooke (born November 1985) is a British inventor, industrial designer and entrepreneur known for having developed the Beryl (company), Beryl (formerly Blaze) Laserlights used for Santander Cycles (the London bike rental ...

, initially marketed her lights using the brand "Blaze" but changed to "Beryl", acknowledging champion cyclist

Beryl Burton Beryl Burton Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, OBE (12 May 1937 – 5 May 1996) was an English Cycle sport, racing cyclist who dominated the Women's sports, women's sport, winning more than 90 domestic championships ...

, after a legal challenge from an American bike light company called Blaze. The company was registered in November 2011 with the name SMIDSY (an acronym for "Sorry Mate I Didn't See You", used when motorists fail to notice bicycles or motorbikes). "Beryl" is the trading name of the company.

Lights

Its founder Brooke developed the "Laserlight" bike lights which are now used as part of

Santander Cycles Santander Cycles (formerly Barclays Cycle Hire) is a public bicycle hire scheme in London in the United Kingdom. The scheme's bicycles have been popularly known as Boris Bikes, after Boris Johnson who was Mayor of London when the scheme began o ...

, London's public bike hire scheme. This light projects an image of a bicycle, in green, onto the road about ahead of the bike, visible round corners and in blind spots.

TfL Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and se ...

has said that the advantages of the Laserlight are it "can be seen from nearly all angles, helping make drivers and pedestrians aware of any approaching Santander Cycles", which has been shown to "help to increase confidence on the roads by making cyclists feel more visible". The company makes several other brands of light, including the "Pixel" which can be switched between red and white for rear or front use, and the "Laserlight core", a cheaper version of the Laserlight using plastic instead of aluminium for the main body.

Bicycle-sharing and kicksharing

Beryl also runs a dockless cycle sharing scheme, currently implemented in towns and counties including

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...

;

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

;

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

;

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

;

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

;

Hertsmere Hertsmere is a local government district with borough status in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Borehamwood. Other settlements in the borough include Bushey, Elstree, Radlett and Potters Bar. The borough contains several fi ...

;

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

;

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

;

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

;

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

;

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

;

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

; and the West Midlands. In some locations, such as

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

and West Midlands, Beryl Bikes also provides a

scooter-sharing system A scooter-sharing system or kicksharing system is a shared transport service in which Motorized scooter, electric motorized scooters (also referred to as e-scooters) are made available to use for short-term rentals. E-scooters are typically "doc ...

, known as kicksharing.

References

External links

* * British companies established in 2011 Manufacturing companies established in 2011 Transport companies established in 2011 Bicycle sharing companies Companies based in the London Borough of Hackney {{Scooter sharing systems