We’ll make sure there’s space to dock your Boris bike, say bosses

 
Empty racks: Incentives are being considered to boost Boris bike scheme Picture: Nigel Howard
10 June 2013

Transport bosses have pledged to fix the major problem with Boris bikes — not being able to find a docking station space to return the bicycle.

Transport for London has instructed its contractors Serco to ensure better distribution at peak commuter hours for the scheme, which has nine million journeys a year. TfL has pledged that by the end of the summer just one in 20 docking stations will be full — and there will be an alternative nearby.

It follows complaints of too many docking stations that are either full or empty, with the problem at its worst at major rail stations, in the City and on the periphery of the scheme. In the most recent customer survey for TfL, one third of users said frustration with the recycling of the bikes was the reason they might not renew their membership.

Following a trial at Paddington, a team of 60 Serco employees using a fleet of 25 vans to carry the bikes have been redeployed this month. Serco has changed shift patterns to concentrate the workers’ efforts in the morning and evening peaks. However, RMT union leader Bob Crow has threatened industrial action if Serco does not employ more staff and improve pay.

Garrett Emmerson, TfL chief operating officer of streets and traffic, said: “We realise from our surveys that full and empty docks are one of the top issues for customers and getting the redistribution right is what will define the success of the scheme.

“Following successful negotiations with Serco and the trade unions, our resources will be better deployed. We think our customers will immediately notice the improvements and the service will continue improve. Teams will now work at peak times and we will focus on restocking bikes in key areas.

“To some extent we will never satisfy demand — we restock Waterloo three times a day and could do it another three times and it still wouldn’t be sufficient. The system was always intended to achieve a balance of usage across the scheme area, with casual and leisure use and other short journeys being vital to provide natural redistribution.”

But Mr Crow said: “If it is not to become an embarrassment to the Mayor, the Boris bike scheme needs more docking stations, more bikes and crucially more and better paid staff. We have been lobbying Serco for some time to pay more and will ballot our members for industrial action if there is no improved offer.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in