'Boris bikes' go missing due to software glitch

Issue with docking codes has now been addressed, says TfL boss
'Glitch': a Santander Cycle
Josh Pettitt8 June 2015

More than 200 Santander bikes have gone missing because of a software glitch in the bike hire scheme, it has been claimed.

Old release codes which should have expired were used to take the bikes out across London, with 220 bikes unaccounted for at the end of the weekend.

Transport for London (TfL) was alerted to the problem after teenagers from estates in Westminster were seen using and dumping the red-branded cycles.

Cllr Barbara Grahame, a Labour councillor in Church Street ward, said: “We just started noticing the boys cycling around on the Santander bikes which they clearly didn’t have the right to access. In the past they used to be able to bounce them out of the docking locks, but that was fixed.

“Residents said the boys were just dumping them after they finished their rides.”

Responding to concerns raised by Cllr Grahame and London Assembly member Murad Qureshi, Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at TfL, said: “The software glitch allowed release codes generated by the system for legitimate users to stay live which means anyone else using that number could also release a bike.

“That hardly is a problem except cumulatively over time quite a lot of release codes are now loitering in the system so the number of combinations of numbers that will release the bikes grows daily. It was spotted and a temporary fix applied which reduced the problem but since this required physical attention at docking stations individually had only limited effect.”

He added: “Thanks for drawing it to my attention – it clearly didn’t take long for some youngers (sic) to figure it out”

The network-wide system has since been fixed. Around 220 were unaccounted for with a number of the bikes, believed to be around 70 or 80, marked as 'floating' - not docked or registered in the system.

James Mead, General Manager of Santander Cycles, said: “We recently experienced a software issue that meant that some cycles were released from a small number of docking stations without a valid hire code. This has now been rectified.

“We are making sure that all bikes have been returned and will ensure that any refunds due to customers are made quickly. Any costs associated with this will be met by the contractor Serco.”

The Standard has contacted TfL for a statement.

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