Electric bikes
Case reference FOI2025/02264
Received 17 November 2025
Published 27 November 2025
Request
Electric bikes Please provide the following information.
1. Cost verses benefit appraisal
2. Actual cost of buying the bikes and setting up the charging system (electric element)
3. Cost of maintaining and managing the bikes
4. Cost of creating and maintaining the parking areas for these bikes.
5. Income generated by the bikes.
6. What is the population of Herefordshire?
7. How many people are registered to use the bikes.
8. How many people actually use the bikes.
Response
Electric bikes
Please provide the following information.
1. Cost verses benefit appraisal
2. Actual cost of buying the bikes and setting up the charging system (electric element)
3. Cost of maintaining and managing the bikes
4. Cost of creating and maintaining the parking areas for these bikes.
5. Income generated by the bikes.
6. What is the population of Herefordshire?
7. How many people are registered to use the bikes.
8. How many people actually use the bikes.
A:
Q1: Herefordshire council does not own any of the infrastructure related to the bike share scheme nor does it pay for the operation of maintenance of the scheme. What it does do however is pay a subsidy to the scheme operator (Beryl) of £1 per ride taken on a monthly basis up to an annual cap. The cap this financial year is £85,000. The reason we use this mechanism is to ensure that the Council only pays for a performing scheme, if no rides were to be taken in a month then no payment would be made, on the other side of this the cap is used to ensure the council is not exposed to financial risk by owing more than the available budget for the scheme.
Q2-Q5: The information requested in questions 2 – 5 has been withheld under Section 43 (1) and / or (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because disclosure would, or would be likely, to prejudice the commercial interests of the supplier of the electric bikes in question.
In reaching this decision I have taken into account relevant guidance provided by the Information Commissioner's Office including whether the information in question is commercial or industrial.
Herefordshire Council is satisfied that the information to which the exemption has been applied contains information which could constitute a business secret (operating and cost models) as well as commercial interests.
Disclosure of the withheld information would adversely affect contain commercially sensitive data that if shared with competitors would be detrimental to our business.
The withheld information contains details of the supplier’s operating costs, charges and income. This information was provided to the council as part of the supplier’s tender submission and these details have been incorporated into the requested contract. This information is unique to that company, proprietary in nature and provides a detailed overview of the way that the company approaches such contracts. The company has stated that disclosure of this information would be of advantage to their direct competitors, thereby negating their ability to develop a commercial advantage when tendering for this contract in the future with Herefordshire Council, or for similar contracts elsewhere.
The council accepts the legitimate economic interests of the company would be likely to be prejudiced by disclosure of the information.
The council is also able to consider its own economic interests in addition to those of Beryl. The council feels that confidentiality is required to protect its position as purchaser. Disclosing this information would be likely to affect the ability of the council to negotiate best value and to effectively procure services in the future.
In coming to this decision, I have weighed up the public interest for disclosure against the public interest in not disclosing the information and the commercial interests of Beryl as follows:
The public interest in disclosure:
Openess and transparency regarding the council’s contract for the provision electric bikes.
The public have a right to scrutinise the spending of public monies.
The public interest in not disclosing the information and the commercial interests of Beryl
Disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act is essentially a disclosure to the world at large, not just to the person who requested it. The requested information contains details of the supplier’s cost model and income, and essentially sets out how they will develop the services. The supplier’s approach has been developed over many years and with significant investment. If this information were released it could lead to that model being copied and replicated by their competitors in Herefordshire and other local authority areas, without the supplier having the advantage of holding similar information on their competitors operating models. Furthermore, disclosure of pricing information would provide their competitors with an opportunity to undecut their charges which would have a negative impact on existing and future contracts.
Taking the above into consideration, I have found the public interest in disclosing the information in this case is outweighed by the public interest in not disclosing the information. Please therefore take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
Q6: The most recent population statistics for Herefordshire are published online at
Population - Understanding Herefordshire
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
Q7: We have 27,238 registered users in Herefordshire.
Q8: We had 2,057 active users in the past 28 days (October 21st – November 18th ), an active user is someone who has taken a ride during that 28 day period.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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