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TfL orders Serco to sort out Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme problems

News coincides with car hire firm Hertz launching e-bike rentals from its Marble Arch office

Transport for London (TfL) is reported to have sent Serco, operator of the capital’s Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme, a ‘critical improvement plan’ after thousands of members were sent incorrect bills, with many users also finding that they were unable to take bicycles from some of the city’s 400 docking points.

London’s Metro newspaper quoted a TfL spokesman as saying: “The service it [Serco] has provided for our Barclays Cycle Hire users has not reached the consistently high standards we expect,” and added, “we expect to see immediate improvements.”

A spokesman for Serco admitted to Metro that “some aspects of the service still need to be improved,” adding, “the scheme has been a great success and has been hugely popular with Londoners and visitors.”

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that London is to get another bike hire scheme, this one operated by the car hire company Hertz, which will be renting electric bikes for £20 a day from its Marble Arch office.

Supplied by Ultra Motor which has partnered with Hertz to provide the scheme, the car hire business says “these electric two wheelers give you the choice to pedal or cruise under power through its high-power on demand acceleration setting.”

The e-bikes are supplied with a lock, optional helmet, and a copy of the AA Leisure Guide to London including details of a variety of cycling itineraries around the city.
 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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the-daily-ripper | 13 years ago
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oh bums, does that mean we'll now have people with limited bike control flying along on electric things as well?

the boris bikes are generally ok, but a limited proportion of the people that use them clearly need substantial cycling and general awareness training - at least having to power them themselves limits the speed somewhat!

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thereverent | 13 years ago
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Reading on the BorisBikes forum it seems to be mostly the pay as you go users that have moct problems. I have an annual membership and that has always worked fine.
The rumour is that the computer system they bought in can't cope with the number of users.

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sanderville | 13 years ago
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Yay! Electric bikes hurtling fat Yank tourists along the pavements of London. That can only be good for cycling!

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ceej18 replied to sanderville | 13 years ago
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touche!

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