Where’s Boris (bikes)? London loses record number of hire cycles
London has lost a record number of Boris bikes, data from Transport for London (TfL) reported.
Around 1,164 bikes were lost in the nine months ended September 2021, a 24.6 per cent hike on the 934 lost in 2020, the Evening Standard reported.
TfL attributes the increasing number of bikes lost – which has grown steadily for the last three years – to ““an increase in crime and change in customer behaviour following the launch of dockless bikes.”
“We take cycle theft extremely seriously and are taking measures to deter it, including installing GPS trackers on bikes, installing cameras at select docking stations and checking equipment at docking stations to ensure bikes are returned properly,” TfL’s head of cycle hire David Eddington told the outlet.
“Sadly, bike theft in general is rising but the higher numbers of lost and stolen bikes also reflect the way we record thefts.”
In addition to working with the Met, TfL has recently started fitting Santander bikes with GPS as well as placing cameras at some docking stations to deter thieves.
TfL announced in January that 2021 was the year with the highest ever use of Boris bikes, as almost 11 million hires were registered, City PM reported. According to data, more than a million people used the scheme, as cycling levels surged during the pandemic.