The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE Shannon bike sharing scheme is set to be back in action this week, after having had to be paused due to vandalism.
CoMotion, the company that provides the bikes, initially opted to suspend the scheme at night-time in a bid to cut off the anti-social behaviour.
However, when that didn’t work and the problem persisted, the decision was taken to close the scheme down temporarily, while new security measures were arranged.
Jarlath Ganly, CEO of CoMotion said, “We had some instances of anti-social behaviour so we temporarily paused the scheme, we’re introducing some new security measures within the app.
“We’re having younger teenagers accessing the scheme, and we just need to put in some extra security measures so we can verify their age before they sign up. We’re developing that and we hope to reactivate it quickly, back to full capacity.”
It is understood that a very small number of people were involved in the anti-social behaviour, and that while it had been hoped the curfew would alleviate the problem, it continued to get worse.
“When something new comes into any environment there’s a novelty period and usually then after that it settles down.
“You react to each local environment and the challenges that arise. But the vast majority of the users, 98% of them, have been excellent and the uptake in Shannon has been exceptional as well, it’s been fantastic.
“Over 1,000 members have signed up, which is phenomenal given the size of the population,” said Mr Gantly.
On its website this week, CoMotion said that user identity validation is being introduced from this Thursday.
It says that “to help us provide a more secure and robust service to our users we are now asking all users to confirm their identity.”
According to CoMotion “this will be done by utilising the latest in AI technology and is completely GDPR compliant”.
Users will be asked to scan their driving licence or passport, take a selfie and from then software will be used to confirm one’s identity.
While she stressed that most use of the bikes has not been problematic, there is a problem with anti-social behaviour locally. “There are a lot of issues in Shannon with anti-social behaviour and we do need to stop burying our heads in the sand on it and do something about it.”
Councillor Donna McGettigan commented last week when the story broke that the incidents with the bikes reflected a general problem with anti-social behaviour in the town.
She said she would fear that an incident could escalate at some point, should the current level of anti-social behaviour continue, and she said a comprehensive solution to address the behaviour and the root causes is required.
“We have to get some system in place not just to tackle the issues that are happening but also tackling why they are happening.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
