Boris bike firm told to improve after 15,000 charging errors

Boris Johnson: bike scheme charging errors are 'unfortunate'
12 April 2012

The firm that runs the Boris Bike scheme has been read the riot act by the Mayor over its "unfortunate" performance after it emerged that nearly 15,000 customers have been incorrectly charged.

Serco has had about £5 million of payments withheld by Transport for London and has now been given a "critical improvement plan".

Since the cycle hire scheme was launched in July last year 14,937 people have received refunds for access or usage charges. Last month almost 600 people had money withdrawn from their bank accounts for journeys they had not taken.

Although most were overcharged by less than £10, one customer had £300 taken and 24 others lost more than £50. The firm refunded this money and also paid more than £6,000 in compensation as a
"goodwill gesture".

A TfL spokesman said: "We have issued Serco with a critical improvement plan as the service they have provided for our Barclays Cycle Hire users has not reached the consistently high standard we expect.

"The plan details what we need to see delivered for Londoners and we expect to see immediate
improvements."

Serco's contract to run the scheme is worth £140 million over six years.

Green Party mayoral candidate Jenny Jones today said: "Like most Londoners I've been very excited by the bike hire scheme and I believed that the glitches would get sorted fairly quickly. Sadly, the Mayor has failed on the detailed working of a scheme which has been riddled with technical problems.

"Overcharging is one of the more visible problems, but the biggest complaint seems to be the failure of bikes to release and people having to walk ages to find one that works.

"The Mayor has clearly stated that he needs to resolve these problems before he expands the scheme to east London and I hope he manages to get a grip on things in time for the 2012 Games."

Responding to London Assembly members' questions Mr Johnson said: "It is unfortunate that such errors have occurred." However, he added: "It is important to note that over five million journeys have been taken on scheme cycles, meaning refunds have been issued for some 0.3 per cent of all journeys."

About 22,000 people use more than 5,000 cycle hire bikes every day. TfL has said about 2,700 docking points will be created in east London by next year and another 1,500 across central London.

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