THE National Transport Authority have said that rain will no longer cause problem at the city’s TFI shared bike stations.

Transport For Ireland (TFI) bicycle stands across Cork city, which have been plagued with glitches after heavy rainfall, will now be fully operational despite the weather, according to an NTA spokesperson.

Numerous cyclists in the city complained that touchscreens at the 36 bike stations, involving 330 bikes, did not work properly at times.

“There have been some issues relating to water ingress in a number of kiosks and bike bollards effecting the equipment, causing some stations to be offline, although it is now largely resolved,” a spokesperson said. 

“A solution has been identified, trialled successfully and is currently being rolled out to all stations. Cork and Waterford upgrades are fully complete.”

Cyclist and Green Party Cllr Dan Boyle has expressed his unhappiness with the service on social media in recent months. “I found myself having to go to several stations when looking for a bike,” he said. “There seems to be ongoing, either hardware or software problems with the stations.”

“The shared bike scheme is in danger of losing its potential because of mismanagement over the last 18 months or so. The NTA needs to be doing a far stronger job. It’s a scheme that has shown it can work.”

Blaming the rain, or having infrastructure that can be impaired by rain, will not build confidence in the scheme, he said. “There is massive goodwill towards having a shared bike scheme and having it extended, but the reliability and high level of breakdown of the stations is a cause for concern, and is undermining confidence,” Mr Boyle added.