Cyclists’ frustrations are growing as Salford Central cycle hub still experiencing faults

The frustrations of cyclists are growing in Salford as the cycle hub at Salford Central rail station is still experiencing faults.

Multiple users of the cycle hub system have been voicing their feelings on social media over the past months.

The main complaint is that that the card reader needed to access the hub has been out of order on numerous occasions.

The card readers at the hubs are operated by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and allow users to park their bike in a secure location for a fee of £10 a year.

Hi @OfficialTfGM and @northernassist – I cannot access the cycle hub at Salford Central. Reader appears loose/broken. Any ideas?

— Owler Nook (@Owler_Nook) June 20, 2018

Update 13/12/18. @OfficialTFGM salford central cycle hub. Still no fix to card reader. Complete fail TFGM cycling. 2017 complaints didn’t bring service improvement. Customer Accountability still lacking. Slogan ‘Making Travel Easier’ doesn’t apply to cyclists https://t.co/UL7mpzbKSh

— Kate (@KateFleckle) December 13, 2018

Kate Fleckle has experienced issues with the hub for two years and she told Salford Now that she has “constantly tried to get the card reader fixed by TfGM”, but her efforts have been to no avail.

“In summary the problems have been going on for two years ever since I’ve used it.

“Myself and a new user turned up in October to find the card reader wouldn’t work.

“He was checking it out for a night out and could well have come back to find that he couldn’t access his bike to get home.”

She also added that she had “experienced the same dilemma in 2017” and on that occasion she had been “offered a bike to borrow by TfGM”.

We approached TfGM for a comment on the matter but they didn’t get back to us.

There are currently 19 cycle hubs across Greater Manchester and the largest hubs can be found in MediaCityUK and Piccadilly Gardens, with 300 and 194 spaces respectively.