Mechanic tells NLRB that almost a third of NYC Citi Bikes are in the shop-NY Post
8/23/14, "Citi Bike struggling to keep up with huge repair backlog," NY Post, K. Fasick, L. Mongelli, and D. Fears
"The Citi Bike repair backlog is so bad that recently one-third of the fleet was sitting in a Brooklyn warehouse waiting to be fixed by overworked mechanics, according to their supervisor.
Lead mechanic Timur Mukhodinov told the National Labor Relations Board several weeks ago that approximately 1,900 of the 6,000 cycles in the struggling bike-share program’s fleet still need to be fixed, according to documents filed by the agency on Wednesday.
NYC Bicycle Share spokesperson Dani Simons disputed the number Mukhodinov gave, saying that there are currently 1,184 bikes in their repair shop. An average of 200 cycles are patched up each day, she added.
Repairing the beat-up bikes is a Sisyphean task — as new rides need restoring every day, Mukhodinov said.
“[W]e don’t know if [the bicycles in the warehouse needing repair] will ever meet zero, because that’s something that’s fueled by the users every single day,” Mukhodinov said in the documents....
Regular riders say busted Citi Bikes are a common sight around the city — and it’s grinding their gears. Common complaints include flat tires, broken gears and cracked seats.
Chelsea resident Shelby Pollard, 30, said she rides the bikes three times a day and has used several that are in need of a trip back to the repair shop.
“About 70 percent of the time it’s all good, but the other 30 percent there are problems,” she told The Post. “I’ve had flat tires and sometimes the gears don’t shift.”
BikeshareNYC, a blog about the system, inspected docked bikes at 24 stations around the Financial District earlier this month — and found that a whopping 68 percent of them had cracked seats.
Some bikers, like 28-year-old Matt Hennessy, take repairs into their own hands.
“One time the brake guard came off, and I had to use this,” he said, lifting up the strap on the front end of his bike, “to strap it back on. I fixed it myself.”
Other riders complain it can be difficult to find an available set of wheels at certain locations.
“At least three times a week I can’t get a bike,” griped Stephen Moran, 43, who works near the Citi Bike station at 49th Street and Fifth Avenue. “If I can’t rent a bike I have to hail a cab, and that costs money.”
It doesn’t help that some of the available bikes are in bad shape.
“So disappointing as of late. Two times in a row, there’s people waiting and multiple broken bikes.
Why’d I renew again?” Twitter user Lisa617 asked recently."
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"The Citi Bike repair backlog is so bad that recently one-third of the fleet was sitting in a Brooklyn warehouse waiting to be fixed by overworked mechanics, according to their supervisor.
Lead mechanic Timur Mukhodinov told the National Labor Relations Board several weeks ago that approximately 1,900 of the 6,000 cycles in the struggling bike-share program’s fleet still need to be fixed, according to documents filed by the agency on Wednesday.
NYC Bicycle Share spokesperson Dani Simons disputed the number Mukhodinov gave, saying that there are currently 1,184 bikes in their repair shop. An average of 200 cycles are patched up each day, she added.
Repairing the beat-up bikes is a Sisyphean task — as new rides need restoring every day, Mukhodinov said.
“[W]e don’t know if [the bicycles in the warehouse needing repair] will ever meet zero, because that’s something that’s fueled by the users every single day,” Mukhodinov said in the documents....
Regular riders say busted Citi Bikes are a common sight around the city — and it’s grinding their gears. Common complaints include flat tires, broken gears and cracked seats.
Chelsea resident Shelby Pollard, 30, said she rides the bikes three times a day and has used several that are in need of a trip back to the repair shop.
“About 70 percent of the time it’s all good, but the other 30 percent there are problems,” she told The Post. “I’ve had flat tires and sometimes the gears don’t shift.”
BikeshareNYC, a blog about the system, inspected docked bikes at 24 stations around the Financial District earlier this month — and found that a whopping 68 percent of them had cracked seats.
Some bikers, like 28-year-old Matt Hennessy, take repairs into their own hands.
“One time the brake guard came off, and I had to use this,” he said, lifting up the strap on the front end of his bike, “to strap it back on. I fixed it myself.”
Other riders complain it can be difficult to find an available set of wheels at certain locations.
“At least three times a week I can’t get a bike,” griped Stephen Moran, 43, who works near the Citi Bike station at 49th Street and Fifth Avenue. “If I can’t rent a bike I have to hail a cab, and that costs money.”
It doesn’t help that some of the available bikes are in bad shape.
“So disappointing as of late. Two times in a row, there’s people waiting and multiple broken bikes.
Why’d I renew again?” Twitter user Lisa617 asked recently."
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posted by susan at
8/24/2014 04:08:00 AM
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