Nearly 15,000 people have had to be refunded charges made by Serco since the Barclays cycle hire scheme was launched in July 2010. In May 2011 almost 600 people in one week had money wrongly withdrawn from their bank accounts for journeys that they did not take.
Serco have had £5million of payments held from them by Transport for London. The contract is worth £140million over six years.
Jenny Jones said:
"Like most Londoners I’ve been very excited by the bike hire scheme and I really believed that the technical glitches would get sorted fairly quickly. Sadly, the Mayor has failed on the detailed working of a bike hire scheme which has been riddled with technical problems right from the start. Overcharging is one of the more visible problems with bike hire, 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."
Notes to the editor:
1. Figures come from the following Mayor’s Questions put forward by Jenny Jones on 15th June 2011:
Question no. 1674/2011
How many people have been wrongly charged by SERCO for cycle hire trips since a computer failure led to 600 people being wrongly charged in one week in mid May?
Answer by Boris Johnson:
This specific data is not available. However, in the month of May 1,072 customers were offered refunds of access or usage charges. This includes the issue noted above and any other system errors. It is important to note that this will also include refunds to customers who simply failed to dock a bicycle correctly, or encountered other extenuating circumstances. Thus system errors will only comprise part of this number. Refunds to those customers who were wrongly charged were processed within one working day.
Question no. 1675/2011
What is the total number of people who have been wrongly charged since the scheme began?
Answer by Boris Johnson
From 30 July 2010 through 3 June 2011 14,937 customers were offered refunds of access or usage charges. It is important to note that this will also include refunds to customers who simply failed to dock a bicycle correctly, or encountered other extenuating circumstances. Thus system errors will only comprise part of this number. It is unfortunate that such errors have occurred. We have rectified these errors and issued refunds to any customers who may have been incorrectly billed. In addition, it is important to note that over 5 million journeys have been taken on scheme cycles, meaning refunds have been issued for some 0.3% of all journeys. As per my answer 1674/2011, refunds to 600 customers who were wrongly charged were processed within one working day.
2. Serco are required to comply with certain requirements to receive further payment and these must be met before any further scheme expansion. As seen in a written response to question no 0764/2011 on 23rd March 2011:
How many complaints have Transport for London now received regarding the failure of a bike hire docking station to release the bike? When will this problem with the IT system be resolved? In line with your response to my question 2774, are you still withholding payments from SERCO as a result of their failure to meet milestone targets?
Written response received on 7th April 2011 states:
"TfL continues to press Serco to deliver a range of IT system enhancements. This work has led to a number of improvements, including greater system stability. As with any project of this size and scale, work on the support systems will never cease, as we continue to upgrade and improve services.
Where Serco has failed to deliver the requirements to meet a milestone TfL has, of course, withheld payment. Serco must successfully deliver a number of items across the scheme, including improved IT systems, to earn any further milestone payments. This work must be completed in advance of any expansion of the scheme."