Missing tfi bikes stations

lostinsuperfunk

Does anyone know what's happening with these tfi bikes locations?

* Connaught Avenue - was built over a year ago but still no bikes there.

* Sullivan's Quay, outside Forde's Bar. There seems to be some kind of construction work happening, very slowly. Will the bikes be put back?

* Morrison's Island, outside College of Commerce. This one has disappeared.

I contacted tfibikes who told me to contact the NTA, who haven't responded.

thomil

There's also the station on Coburg Street. This was removed as part of the MacCurtain Street Upgrade project, and while it is supposed to be reinstated at a different location, I couldn't figure out where they were going to put it when I was around there last Thursday.

With regards to the Morrison's Island station, that one was flooded regularly, and I'd presume that was the reason it was removed. Plus, the flood defense works are supposed to start over there early next year, so I wouldn't expect that one to be back before that project is completed.

opus

There was one on Washington St that was removed due to the student flats being builts at the old Square Deal place. That's long finished but no sign of the bike stands coming back. That was the one I used the most so miss it.

lostinsuperfunk

Quite a few of them have been removed and it makes the network less useful. I also used to use the Washington Street one. Still no reply from the NTA to my query.

lostinsuperfunk

Got a reply ...

Sullivan's Quay is permanently gone.

College of Comm was removed due to the flood works and a new station will be installed when they're complete.

Connaught Avenue is going to be moved. It looks to me like there isn't enough room to safely remove the bikes without traffic impinging at the current location.

I didn't ask them about Coburg Street or Washington Street.

opus

Seems the Washington St station is coming back also but no idea when.

We believe you are referring to St. Fin Barre's Bridge station. Our team is working to reinstall it but unfortunately, we cannot tell an exact date when the station will start operating. 

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Quite amazing they are actually removing stations when we should be working to add to the network. Disappointing. If you're going to permanently remove one, at least add one somewhere nearby. The network is tiny as it is.

thomil

To be fair, it's only the Sullivan's Quay station that's permanently gone, and that location still has the stations at Peace Park, Bishop Street (St. Finn Barre's Cathedral) and South Main Street within easy walking distance. Most of the others are going to be reinstalled, in most cases pending the completion of infrastructure works. What's more, the network was extended last year out to CIT, so it's not like they're not working to improve the system. Is it fast enough? No. Is there enough communication? HELL No! But, speaking as someone who uses TFI Bikes on an almost daily basis, the system is in a far better state and receiving far more attention than during its Coke Zero Bikes days. Back in the olden days, even the reply that lostinsuperfunk got would have been a mere pipe dream.

lostinsuperfunk

I forgot to mention that they said they added more bikes to other stations to make up for those lost at Sullivan's Quay. But I would like to see more stations to fill a few gaps, and to extend the network out. St John's College is an obvious location, and the coverage doesn't extend far on the northside. A few stations leading out to Blackpool would probably make sense.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Definitely way more needed North of the Lee. Should be stations out to Douglas and all along the Harbour Greenway too. That'd be game changing.

lostinsuperfunk

Noticed another station has disappeared - there used to be one on South Main Street outside the Oval Bar. There is probably a lot of additional demand there with the student accommodation and the Tesco. There are quite a few gaps in coverage now, which is not consistent with the NTA's line that they were adding local capacity to make up for the removed Sullivan's Quay station. The network is becoming less useful .

EnzoScifo

A new bike station is being installed at County Hall next week

lostinsuperfunk

Good news about County Hall and Washington Street. College View closed and fenced off but just for today. https://www.bikeshare.ie/service-disruption-notice-cork-college-view-and-mardyke-walk.html

opus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121821709#Comment_121821709

Spotted them on a jog at lunchtime.

lostinsuperfunk

County Hall and Washington Street are still not online. No movement on Connaught Avenue. College View seems to be semi-abandoned. It's offline some of the time, and never has more than one or two bikes. People are now beginning to use it as a car park.

lostinsuperfunk

College View is back but Mardyke Walk closed up and docks all covered.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

The maintenance of the system is a disgrace.

You can't rely on the bikes working or stations to be open.

I contacted the Sustainable Transport officer in Council (yes, we have one) and was essentially told that he uses the scheme regularly and rarely has issues.

lostinsuperfunk

NTA are the people to contact with any issues about the bikes : info@nationaltransport.ie

They have responded to my queries in the past, although it takes a while to get a response. It's important to flag issues as they might be taken into account whenever the contract is up for renewal. It's very frustrating when stations seem to randomly get shut down.

thomil

Apologies for resurrecting this zombie thread, but there have been some interesting changes to TFI Bikes recently.

For starters, it looks as if the old style locks are being removed from the bikes. A lot of the bikes I’m using these days don’t have any, whilst others have a new permanently installed lock, such as the one below:

Meanwhile, Cork County Hall station has come online and seems to be getting a fair bit of use, at least from what I can see on the 220X bus. The station on Washington Street, outside the new student accommodation block, looks to be physically complete but hasn’t come online yet.

Finally, the biggest change to the system, and the one I’m most excited about, has happened on the app front. A new version of the TFI Bikes app that was released on July 12th introduced “App Release”, a feature that allows users to check out a bike without having to go through the kiosk/terminal at a station. You simply select your station on the app and then tap on the bike you want to rent. As someone who has summoned quite the collection of elder gods and eldritch entities cursing unresponsive touch screens, this is a godsend!

lostinsuperfunk

Thanks for the update @thomil , that's all very positive. App release is a step forward as those touch screens are glitchy.

While we may sometimes complain, I used Dublin Bikes recently and there's no comparison. The quality and condition of the TFI bikes is far better, and the app is easier to use.

Let's hope those other missing stations come back soon.

lostinsuperfunk

Washington Street still not open; Cork School of Music seems to be closed too .

thomil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122563413#Comment_122563413

Cork School of Music has been closed due to the Morrison’s Island works from what I’ve been able to gather. Apparently, it due to works related to the new Trinity Bridge. So I guess this will be down for quite some time.

Also, it looks like the News section on bikeshare.ie has been reworked. There’s now a section directly on the front page listing outages. Not sure if this is new but I personally only noticed it a couple of weeks ago.