E-scooter hire in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole: Beryl’s prices, hours and where you can ride
You can hire an e-scooter in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole from Beryl, in a trial that runs to May 2028. It costs £1 to unlock and 22p a minute, so 15 minutes cost £4.30, and you must be 18 or over with a full or provisional UK driving licence. You can’t hire one from 10pm to 5am, and in July and August BCP Council bans them from the seafront promenades from 10am to 6pm. Your own e-scooter is illegal on BCP’s roads, pavements and promenades.
Bournemouth e-scooter hire: Beryl, in a trial that runs to May 2028
One company, Beryl, runs the hire e-scooters of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) for BCP Council, alongside its pedal bikes and e-bikes. The bikes arrived on 17 June 2019 and the e-scooters on 25 January 2021, for the Department for Transport’s rental trial.
The trial was first due to end in November 2021. It has been extended since, and BCP Council now says it runs until May 2028, the end date the Department for Transport has set for all the national trials.
At first the scooters stayed in Bournemouth and Poole; Christchurch had joined by August 2025, Beryl’s help centre shows. At 18:25 on 17 October 2026 the map showed about 355 Beryl e-scooters in Bournemouth, 205 in Poole and 125 in Christchurch: a snapshot, not the fleet size. The map shows e-scooters only, not Beryl’s bikes and e-bikes. You unlock and pay in the Beryl app.
How much does a Beryl e-scooter cost in Bournemouth?
Beryl charges £1 to unlock and 22p a minute for its e-scooters across BCP, in its pricing guide of 22 July 2026; the app shows the final price. Bundles and passes work on any Beryl vehicle.
| Option | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you ride | £1 unlock + 22p a minute | 10 minutes £3.20, 15 minutes £4.30, 30 minutes £7.60 |
| 50-minute bundle | £5.50 | 11p a minute, plus £1 to unlock each e-scooter |
| 100-minute bundle | £9 | 9p a minute, plus £1 to unlock |
| 200-minute bundle | £16 | 8p a minute, plus £1 to unlock |
| 400-minute bundle | £28 | 7p a minute, plus £1 to unlock |
| Day Pass | £16 | Up to 200 minutes on e-scooters within 24 hours, no unlock fees |
| Flexi Pass | £45 | 500 minutes over 30 days, no unlock fees; time past 45 minutes in one ride is charged at pay-as-you-ride rates |
You can pause a ride for up to 30 minutes to keep the scooter, but the minutes still count. New to hire scooters? See how to rent an e-scooter.
Students get 25% off bundles and passes, but not pay-as-you-ride, with the code STUDENT26 from September 2026 to 31 July 2027. Your Beryl account must use your university or college email.
Are e-scooters legal in Bournemouth? Age, licence and fines
Hire scooters are legal because BCP is one of England’s 21 trial areas. Beryl rents them only to riders 18 or over with a full or provisional UK driving licence. It checks your photocard and a selfie; paper licences aren’t accepted.
Visiting? Beryl and BCP Council both ask for a UK licence. The law also accepts a full EU or EEA licence, or another country’s full licence in your first 12 months in the UK, but Beryl doesn’t say it takes them here: check in the app first.
| Rule | What it means | If you break it |
|---|---|---|
| Pavements | Never: use roads, cycle lanes and shared-use paths | £50 fixed penalty |
| Pedestrian areas | Walk the scooter | Against BCP’s rules and Beryl’s terms |
| Seafront promenades | Not from 10am to 6pm in July and August | BCP Council warns of prosecution |
| One rider | No passengers | Against Beryl’s rules |
| Phone | Not in your hand while riding | £200 and 6 points |
| Headphones | No headphones or earbuds | Against Beryl’s rules |
| Drink and drugs | Drink-drive law applies: 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood | Court, a driving ban, possibly prison |
| Speed | Beryl’s scooters go up to 12.5 mph, slower in its slow zones | Below the 15.5 mph the law allows |
| Helmet | Recommended, not compulsory | Beryl warns that riding without one may void its insurance |
Beryl’s free Scoot Happy training is optional. The national rules are in our guide to e-scooter law in the UK.
A private e-scooter is illegal on BCP’s roads, pavements and cycle lanes and in its parks, and BCP Council says on its promenades at any time of year. Riding one means a £300 fixed penalty and 6 points for having no insurance, and the police can seize it; since 29 June 2026 they can seize a vehicle ridden anti-socially without a warning first.
When can you ride? Night hours and the summer seafront ban
Across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Beryl’s e-scooters can’t be unlocked or hired from 10pm to 5am, every day of the week, Beryl’s help centre said on 27 July 2026. Its bikes and e-bikes aren’t covered. Beryl doesn’t say what happens to a ride still going at 10pm, so plan to finish before then.
BCP Council’s seafront rule: in July and August, from 10am to 6pm, cycling, skating and skateboarding are banned on the seafront promenades and paths, and the council says this includes Beryl’s bikes and e-scooters: riding then “could lead to prosecution”. Cyclists may use the stretch between Bournemouth and Boscombe piers all year, but the council’s e-scooter rule makes no such exception. At other times keep below 10 mph, give way to people walking and walk when it’s busy.
Beryl’s slow zones: its help centre (last updated in August 2025) says its scooters slow to 3 mph on the Bournemouth and Poole promenades from 1 July to 4 September, 10am to 6pm, and to 7.5 km/h (under 5 mph) in the Lower Gardens and the town centre from 1 August to 4 September. The app shades them yellow; check it each summer.
Cycling is also banned on the zigzag paths from the cliff top to the promenade, in the chines and in Bournemouth’s Lower Central Gardens; Beryl’s scooters may go only where bikes may. In Christchurch the promenade is too narrow to ride in places, the council says.
Where can you ride? The Beryl zone, the beaches and the no-go areas
Beryl’s zone covers Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Bournemouth Airport at Hurn included. Upton, in the Dorset Council area, is a no-go zone for e-scooters, though Beryl’s bikes stay there. That is how we read Beryl’s zone data on 18 October 2026; the app shows the boundary.
In a no-go zone the scooter slows and stops: walk it out, as you can’t pause or end a ride there.
| Where | Riding | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth and Poole promenades | Not 10am–6pm in July and August | Bays by Bournemouth Pier and Boscombe Pier |
| Hengistbury Head | No-go zone | The Hiker Cafe bay at its western end |
| Avon Beach | No-go zone along the beach | Bays at the Avon Beach car park and Mudeford Quay |
| Sandbanks chain ferry | No-go zone on the slipway | Two bays beside it; Studland, across the water, is outside the e-scooter zone |
Beryl bays in Bournemouth and Poole: end every ride in a bay
Beryl’s data listed 398 bays in the scheme at 1am on 18 October 2026, shared by its bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters. Park inside one, tap End Journey and wait for the confirmation. Beryl adds these fees (BCP pricing guide, July 2026):
- Outside a bay: £5.
- Outside the zone: £10 each time you lock there, plus £80 if the scooter is still outside after 24 hours.
- Left unlocked: £10.
Ride a scooter marked with a star in the app back to a bay and Beryl Bonus gives you 10 minutes’ credit.
Stations, Bournemouth Airport, trains and buses
No e-scooters on South Western Railway trains. SWR has banned them from its trains and stations since 1 June 2023, citing the fire risk from their batteries; e-bikes, electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters are exempt. Hire e-scooters such as Beryl’s may cross a station forecourt only to reach a hire bay, never station buildings, platforms or trains, SWR says. We couldn’t confirm morebus’s rules: ask before boarding with any e-scooter.
- Bournemouth station: the Bournemouth Station bay, with room for 17, is about 25 metres away.
- Poole station: a bay about 15 metres away; Poole bus station has one about 70 metres away.
- Christchurch station: bays at both the north and the south entrance.
- Branksome and Pokesdown: bays about 150 and 140 metres from each station.
- Bournemouth Airport (Hurn): inside the zone, as we read Beryl’s data, which lists a Bournemouth Airport bay for 6 vehicles and another at the Aviation Business Park. You can’t hire a scooter before 5am, so check the time before an early flight.
Heading elsewhere? See e-scooter hire in the UK for the other trial areas.
Bournemouth University and AUB students
Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus has Beryl bays at the Bus Hub, Poole House and the Sir Michael Cobham Library. Arts University Bournemouth, next door, has a bay for 10 by the university and one for 20 at its student accommodation. BU’s Lansdowne Campus, near Bournemouth station, has seven bays within 300 metres.
With STUDENT26 the Flexi Pass costs £33.75 for 500 minutes with no unlock fees; Beryl says it suits frequent short journeys.
Did you know?
- Bournemouth had the longest e-scooter trips of England’s trials. To the end of 2021 its average trip was 3.8 km and 35 minutes, against 2.2 km and 14 minutes across all trials, the Department for Transport’s evaluation found.
- The River Stour was the first boundary. In December 2020 the council called it “a clear, easily understandable boundary”, which left Christchurch out of the trial at the start.
- Half the journeys are on e-scooters. In January 2024 they made 50.6% of the journeys in Beryl’s BCP scheme, bikes included, Beryl said.
Questions
- When does the Bournemouth e-scooter trial end?
- In May 2028, BCP Council says: the end date the Department for Transport has set for all the national trials. It began on 25 January 2021.
- How much does a Beryl e-scooter cost in Bournemouth?
- It costs £1 to unlock and 22p a minute, so a 15-minute ride costs £4.30. Bundles from £5.50 for 50 minutes cut the minute rate, but each e-scooter unlock still costs £1; the £16 Day Pass and £45 Flexi Pass include unlocks.
- Can I ride a Beryl e-scooter at night in Bournemouth?
- No. Beryl’s e-scooters can’t be unlocked or hired from 10pm to 5am, every day, anywhere in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Beryl’s bikes and e-bikes aren’t affected.
- Can you ride e-scooters on Bournemouth seafront?
- Beryl’s hire scooters, yes, except from 10am to 6pm in July and August, when BCP Council bans cycling and scooters on the promenades. Private e-scooters are illegal there at all times.
- Can I take an e-scooter on the train from Bournemouth or Poole?
- No. South Western Railway has banned e-scooters from its trains and stations since 1 June 2023, citing fire risk; a hire scooter may only cross the forecourt to a hire bay. Ask morebus about its buses before you travel.
- Can I ride my own e-scooter in Bournemouth?
- No. As everywhere in the UK, a private e-scooter is illegal on roads, pavements and cycle lanes, in parks and on the promenade. Riding one means a £300 fine and 6 points, and the police can seize it. You may ride one only on private land with the owner’s permission.