Dublin Bikes system knackered

Snickers Man

Thought I would get some value from my newly acquired Dublin Bikes annual card and go for a spin into town. Nice night for it and all that. The other half was going to come but I needed to get her a three day ticket.

First two stands I went to were displaying a message "Please wait. This station is trying to connect".

So I called the help line. "Some of our stations aren't working. And the three day ticket option is completely banjaxed."

So, if I have an annual ticket can I use a bike. "Oh yes. Some of the stations are still working. Here's the nearest ones to you that are operational."

Needless to say when I get there both are displaying the same "Dog ate my homework" message. And by then the call centre had gone home for the night.

I'm fairly new to db. So far I was thinking it was the best tenner I've ever spent. But is this sort of thing a common occurence? If so it's really crap.

Run_to_da_hills

With them since they started and hadn't had a problem except for a flat tire on one bike and having to cycle to about 4 drop off points to get an empty bay on another.

Snickers Man

Seems like a temporary aberration then.

Good. Cos I really like the idea. And apart from also experiencing your issue of sometimes not being able to park because the stand is full I've had no operational problems.

Until now.

BrianD

Think I've come across 3 stations in that state in over a year. The one in Charlemont had that issue this week. Apparently they usually come back up in 5 min or so. Seems that there may have been a bigger problem tonight.

ko4jm6y9iwv2lc

I've never had any operational problems either. Lately though Im finding it tough to get bikes as a lot stations are often empty, and now I can't really depend on using the service anymore. The number of people using the service is constantly increasing, while the number of bikes remain the same, and as a result its really beginning to reduce the usefulness of the service.

lucernarian

I found that problem this evening at about 10.30 at the Customs House station. Haven't seen it before. Not that it mattered much, when travelling to the grand canal dock area and so on, the nearest bike stand is on Pearse St and not even quite as far as the train station! There needs to be more capacity in the area between Parnell Square and Dame St and any expansion of the service should happen eastwards and westwards and near or along the Liffey.

Mr.Crinklewood

Use this daily, no issues so far.

Trampas

My only problem is how they keep the levels of bikes at stations.

usually the lads who move the bikes around will either fill the van up with bikes from one station no matter how many are left. I have even seen them leave 1 bike behind or else empty the van out and hardly leave a space free for bikes to be returned.

I would have thought by now they could see a trend for each day which way the bikes are moving around so stations could be properly stocked for the morning run.

fletch

Trampas wrote: »

My only problem is how they keep the levels of bikes at stations.

usually the lads who move the bikes around will either fill the van up with bikes from one station no matter how many are left. I have even seen them leave 1 bike behind or else empty the van out and hardly leave a space free for bikes to be returned.

I would have thought by now they could see a trend for each day which way the bikes are moving around so stations could be properly stocked for the morning run.

I would have thought this is exactly what they are doing. If a station is full to capacity it is likely that there are a lot of bikes being dropped off at that time so it makes sense to clear all the bikes to make way for more.

lucernarian

But they could arrive at a time when lots of people have finished leaving their bikes there and take them away while there will be much fewer people leaving their bikes there from then on.

I think taking every single bike is not acceptable, if they even took 25 instead of thirty or left 25 then it could make a big difference for some people.

BlueCam

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

But they could arrive at a time when lots of people have finished leaving their bikes there and take them away while there will be much fewer people leaving their bikes there from then on.

I think taking every single bike is not acceptable, if they even took 25 instead of thirty or left 25 then it could make a big difference for some people.

I live beside Pearse Station and this is a constant problem - they completely empty the station near the end of rush hour, so from around 8 or 9pm onwards there are no bikes at all.

lucernarian

BlueCam wrote: »

I live beside Pearse Station and this is a constant problem - they completely empty the station near the end of rush hour, so from around 8 or 9pm onwards there are no bikes at all.

You're 100% right, it's not acceptable that they continually do this. There's never a need to leave the stand completely empty.

RATM

I'm not sure if it is just me but on weekends I am noticing less of a service of moving bikes around than there was 6 months ago. Just last Saturday I went to three different stations to drop off and all three were full up.

As I result I had to bring the bike back to where I had originally started 15 minutes previous and then walk my journey :mad:

xoxyx

I've noticed this issues about eight or nine times in the last month or so. Most recently today! One of the days, I went to three different stations and they all said "this station is waiting to connect". This is a problem when you're trying to return a bike (like on the way to work) and the stations are full because nobody can take a bike out of them.

I spoke to a lady in Dublin Bikes a few weeks ago and she knew nothing of the problem. Spoke to somebody a few minutes ago who said it was just the station I went to today with an issue, but that every single station goes offline for about two minutes each day in order to reconfigure. I've been using Dublin Bikes since they started though and I've never seen this until recently.

BostonB

I find its find at lunchtime but useless for commuting. Of course its not intended for commuters though is it. If you were using it a lot, it would be very handy to have the smartphone app on a mobile.

BrianD

xoxyx wrote: »

I've noticed this issues about eight or nine times in the last month or so. Most recently today! One of the days, I went to three different stations and they all said "this station is waiting to connect". This is a problem when you're trying to return a bike (like on the way to work) and the stations are full because nobody can take a bike out of them.

I spoke to a lady in Dublin Bikes a few weeks ago and she knew nothing of the problem. Spoke to somebody a few minutes ago who said it was just the station I went to today with an issue, but that every single station goes offline for about two minutes each day in order to reconfigure. I've been using Dublin Bikes since they started though and I've never seen this until recently.

This problem is occurring more often. I'm surprised that they are not aware of it.

Stations I've experienced this problem at in the past month:
Charlemont
Upper Ormond Quay.

xoxyx

BrianD wrote: »

This problem is occurring more often. I'm surprised that they are not aware of it.

Stations I've experienced this problem at in the past month:
Charlemont
Upper Ormond Quay.

For me:

• High Street (beside Thomas street);
• Christchurch;
• Quay Street;
• George's Quay;
• Pearse Street; and,
• Townsend Street.

I had to leave a bike chained up in Quay Street a few weeks ago when the station was down and full. The girl I spoke to at the time said I would be refunded the amount for that, but it hasn't happened yet.

In fairness to Dublin Bikes, they have been very good before and even reduced a significant charge I got after I (big thicko that I am) forgot I had chained a bike up in Stephen's Green and didn't return it 'till the next day.

This is annoying though, and I've been unable to get confirmation from DB that there's an actual problem other than with the one station today.

subway

Use the service multiple times a week, never had any issue.
I use the android site, it has trending for the stands so you can generally predict when it will be empty etc. perhaps dublin bikes should use this same data as its scarily accurate

fasttalkerchat

Is it just a tenner for the year?

Trampas

I was getting a bike this morning from the green (across loreto school) and sametime one of the workers was busy emptying out the station.

So I signed in and as just as i was going to press 2 for bike 2 as there was 1.2 and about 26-30 left he goes don't select 1 or 2.

His van was down by 1-2.

I pressed 2 and he was not pleased that I pressed 2 and arms went up in the air as like I had ruined his day. I was going in direction of 2 with the bike.

There was no need for him to take more bikes as only left a couple.

xoxyx

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Is it just a tenner for the year?

Yep, €10 a year and the first half hour is free. After than, you get charged on an upward scale:

1 hour - €0.50;
2 hours - €1.50;
3 hours - €2.50;
4 hours - €3.50; and,
Every extra 1/2 hours - €2.

fasttalkerchat

xoxyx wrote: »

Yep, €10 a year and the first half hour is free. After than, you get charged on an upward scale:

1 hour - €0.50;
2 hours - €1.50;
3 hours - €2.50;
4 hours - €3.50; and,
Every extra 1/2 hours - €2.

Ah, that explains it. I thought it was a tenner and you had it free for the day every day (just return it at nights).

xoxyx

I wish!!! Still very good though - especially for short trips. I cycle in and out of work every day and doesn't cost me anything extra.

Carawaystick

xoxyx wrote: »

Yep, €10 a year and the first half hour is free. After than, you get charged on an upward scale:

1 hour - €0.50;
2 hours - €1.50;
3 hours - €2.50;
4 hours - €3.50; and,
Every extra 1/2 hours - €2.

It costs a euro if your credit card gets replaced during the year.

fasttalkerchat

xoxyx wrote: »

I wish!!! Still very good though - especially for short trips. I cycle in and out of work every day and doesn't cost me anything extra.

If you're using it for a regular commute why not just buy a cheap bike? I thought the dublin bikes seemed really uncomfortable to be using them daily.

xoxyx

Carawaystick wrote: »

It costs a euro if your credit card gets replaced during the year.

Fucking corporate sneaky bastards!

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

If you're using it for a regular commute why not just buy a cheap bike? I thought the dublin bikes seemed really uncomfortable to be using them daily.

I would love a proper bike, but there bike area in work is constantly broken into, and I wouldn't get a minute's peace leaving my bike chained outside.

For what I'm doing, Dublin Bike costs flip all, I don't have to worry about where I leave them, and I do find them very comfortable. I just hike the seat up as high as it can go (being 5ft 7), and wheel off to my next destination. Never had a comfort issues, apart from the fact that mountain bikes are painful to me now 'cause I'm used to a wide seat.

markpb

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

If you're using it for a regular commute why not just buy a cheap bike? I thought the dublin bikes seemed really uncomfortable to be using them daily.

It's only meant for very short trips across the city centre - not commuting. If you're spending more than half an hour on them, you're doing something wrong

Gumbo

Carawaystick wrote: »

It costs a euro if your credit card gets replaced during the year.

but that €1 is then subtracted from the following years subscription.
Happened me this year on renewal.

Changed credit cards, they took 1e to confirm and then my renewal 3 months later was only €9.

munster nomad

This issue is definitely more widespread in last couple of days.
"Station is connecting to system please wait..."

If it's some kind of regular thing for each station then they need to do it in the middle of the night or develop a better system that doesn't put the station offline.

Has anyone figured out how long this takes? I had this problem in Custom house quay yesterday eve, I waited only about 3 mins. A work colleague said he went to it 20 mins later and there was no issue.

This morning I saw the error in Charlemont Place / Harcourt Terrace / Wilton Terrace. Charlemont had 30 bikes @ 8:20 so i should of known something was up! I heard from other people that Molesworth st and both at the Green were offline too, that is an incredible amount of the network out of action!!!

I use AllBikesNow and Bikedroid for my Android - i was thinking if they can get it from the website, would be a nice addition to say this station is OFFLINE with those apps. Save us all walking around aimlessly from station to station!

schemingbohemia

Trampas wrote: »

I was getting a bike this morning from the green (across loreto school) and sametime one of the workers was busy emptying out the station.

So I signed in and as just as i was going to press 2 for bike 2 as there was 1.2 and about 26-30 left he goes don't select 1 or 2.

His van was down by 1-2.

I pressed 2 and he was not pleased that I pressed 2 and arms went up in the air as like I had ruined his day. I was going in direction of 2 with the bike.

There was no need for him to take more bikes as only left a couple.

Do you mind me asking why you pressed 2 after being asked not to?

Carawaystick

kceire wrote: »

but that €1 is then subtracted from the following years subscription.
Happened me this year on renewal.

Changed credit cards, they took 1e to confirm and then my renewal 3 months later was only €9.

You're assuming everyone renews, I got no refund when my card expired last January
A 10% surcharge is rediculous, it should either be refunded immediately or no charge made.