TFI Bikes Cork - Four Months Later

So, it’s been what, four months since Transport for Ireland began to transition the regional bike sharing schemes from the old and worn-out Coca Cola Zero Bikes branding to TFI Bikes? Well, as I’m typing up this blog post in the waning days of January 2022, this transition is still not complete which, given the governance and management of the scheme up to this point, should really come as no surprise. But just how sluggish is the rollout and how much has the system improved in those four months, if at all?

Well, ever since the transition started back in October 2021, the new TFI Bikes branding has been rolled out to the touch screens on the docking stations as well as on the website. More importantly, the mobile apps for iOS and Android, which had basically remained unchanged since 2015, were given a complete makeover and no longer look like a relic on newer iPhones. The TFI Bikes brand also began showing up on new and refurbished bikes that have started coming online in the intervening months. More importantly though, the system saw its first modest expansion, with a total of five additional stations coming online at Mardyke Walk, outside the gates to UCC at College Walk, at Dennehy’s Cross and a cluster of three stations around the MTU campus.

I really love the new black and green colour scheme of the bikes. The rear mud guard and wireframe basket are a massive improvement as well.

The biggest change is the new transmission & gear shift that you can see on the right handlebar. The mechanism is simplified and it is still the best transmission of any rental bike I've ever used!

So, new bikes, new stations, a refreshed app and new website? Seems like TFI Bikes is going through a renaissance, right? Well, not quite. You see, even four months in, the number of bikes in the system is still not back to the levels prior to October 2021. As I’m writing this, most of the TFI Bikes stations around the city have less than ten bikes available, often not more than six. This is despite the fact that there are still plenty of the old and beat up Coke Zero Bikes around. And many of the docking stations remain in a shocking state of disrepair, with bike stands out of action for weeks, months, or in the case of the station on Grand Parade, years on end. And if you thought that either the National Transport Authority or the operating company Telfourth Ltd. would publish a roadmap about when they expect the bike numbers to recover, or when the stations would be back to their original capacity, dream on. There has been complete and utter radio silence all this time, apart from a small message in the News section on www.bikeshare.ie that stated that the five new stations I mentioned further up had opened. I don’t know who is managing the system, but I’d be reasonably confident that even a barely functioning slime mould would do a better job running the system by a country mile.

South Mall station, Cork. See Stand #6 there with the faded construction tape? It's been like that since before I started my current job, so at least three years at this point. And more stands have since gone down.

The construction tape here at the Patrick Street station may be new, but the issue is the old.

This is one of the "new" TFI Bikes docks outside Kent Station. The stand on the left clearly has an open side panel, while the right hand stand has its cover mounted improperly. Oh, and neither of the LEDs work on either of the stands.

Leaving functionally impaired fungi to one side for a moment, there are some very definite positives in this story, starting with the Bikes themselves. I had briefly mentioned in in my original blog post on the refresh back in October, but the new or refurbished bikes are truly a breath of fresh air. They are just as sturdy as the original bikes but seem a bit taller and have received a number of modifications to increase their resilience. These include a reworked gear-shift mechanism that is a lot simpler than the original system, a completely redesigned and enlarged rear mudguard that partially protects the rear light, a wireframe basket instead of the flimsy fabric the Coke Zero Bikes started with, a reworked seat-adjustment lever and completely new wheels. What’s more, four months in, the state of repair of the bikes continues to be excellent, with only one stuck rear wheel and two instances of wonky transmissions so far. I did notice that some of the bikes just have the TFI Bikes branding slapped onto them with a sticker on the frame, rather than being painted on. I guess it makes sense to simply repair and rebadge the more decent first-generation bikes rather than buying a completely new complement of bikes.

Even with Irish motorists displaying their lack of understanding of even the basic rules of the road, the South Mall cycle lane is still a major asset to the city.

This is especially clear when the lane is free of obstructions, which it is most of the times that I've used it to be fair. I use this particular cycle lane almost every single day.

This bears out in everyday usage as well. I used them pretty regularly in the months prior to the Omicron lockdown at the end of November 2021 to cover the distance between my office and the bus stop at Grand Parade where my buses to Ballincollig depart, and started doing so again following the begin of the return to offices in late January 2022. I’ve been using them almost daily ever since.

Combined with the excellent South Mall cycle lane and the hodgepodge of cycle lanes along Parnell Place, Brian Ború Street and the Alfred Street cycle lanes, it really showed what is possible with even semi-decent cycling infrastructure. Even once we were back in lockdown, I continued using the system on a semi-regular basis, whether it was to grab a bite to eat at a favourite café of mine, get my COVID-19 booster shot in city hall, or my most recent trip out to Marina Park and Blackrock Pier. Even with the questionable design and state of repair of some of the cycle lanes, the combination of these lanes and the mere existence of a bike rental system is already transformational. 

A serial problem I've noticed with the new bikes is the changed position of the docking clamp. As you can see here, this has lead to the front wheel being clear of the ground when docked.

It would be even more so if there was more of a marketing push to use it, since it is still a steal at 10€ a year. And while some major points of interest, such as Pairc Úi Chaoimh, remain unserved by the network, that is to a certain degree understandable given that most of the cycling infrastructure is still woefully underdeveloped. More important than that though is the state of repair of the TFI Bikes stations in the city. As mentioned above, some stations have had stands out of commission for years at this point and almost every single station is still operating with less than the designed-for number of operational bike stands. Not that the operational stands are any better. Many of them don’t appear to be properly sealed against humidity or rainfall, leading to quite a few issues in wet weather. In many cases, the status LEDs have stopped working completely, and the touch screens on the station terminals themselves seem to have joined a union, given how often they go on strike. What’s worse though is that the docking clamp on the bikes seems to no longer be uniform, being slightly low on some bikes and slightly high on others. This means bikes need to be either angled or lifted up to fit into a station, leading to them being jammed, not registered as returned and a whole host of similar issues. 

As much as I enjoy using TFI Bikes, and as much as I will use them again once we return to the office, I can’t help but notice the continuing air of disinterest and abandonment on the part of all involved parties, be that Telfourth Ltd., the National Transport Authority & Transport for Ireland, and of course Cork City Council, who seem to be more focused on  celebrating the Lord Mayor’s latest child crusher, sponsored by a car company that has screwed over Cork almost as bad as it did its own home city, Detroit! And given that even the Minister for Transport, a cycling advocate himself and member of the Greens, is asleep at the wheel, I’m not sure what can be done to change this situation!