Sinn Féin Councillor Angela Donnelly said she has been “inundated with calls and emails from residents” complaining about the amount of dumped Tier bikes around Dublin 15 in recent months.
Councillor Donnelly said “at one point over the last month, there were four bikes in various states of abandonment and vandalism along a short stretch of road in Hartstown. Bramblefield in Littlepace, had a Tier bike burnt out.”
“Another bike was taken from the canal. I contacted Fingal County Council upon receipt of each complaint and the bikes were removed but more recently I asked if they knew if the users were dumping them (and therefore being fined) or if they were being taken from stands and dumped?
She said it was a “growing issue,” noting that one of the bikes she saw had no wheels.
“They are a great resource, but they need to be picked up as soon as possible, when the GPS indicates they are not at an approved parking station,” she said.
“I received a comprehensive response from Fingal County Council who informed me that badly parked bikes in Dublin 15 have risen from 5% when the service launched in June 2022 to over 30% this summer.”
“It was confirmed that any abandoned eBike is one that has been hired by a member of the public and parked away from a Sheffield Stand or a Virtual Parking Bay, this makes them far more likely to be tampered with,” she added.
Councillor Donnelly said it was “evident” that poorly parked bikes coincided with TIER’s introduction of a €2 convenience fee, which charged users if they were unable/unwilling to finish their trip at a designated parking area, this fee was introduced across Ireland, Europe and the UK on a trial basis and has worked extremely well in most cities.
“It hasn’t been a success in Fingal,” she said.
A representative from Fingal County Council met with TIER this week and insisted that the convenience fee trial be discontinued throughout the County and replaced with a €20 abandonment fee, with the change implemented on 28th September.