Greystones No.1 For MOBY Bike Abuse

Moby cross the Dargle… Pic: Michael Doyle

e are, of course, not the only ones seemingly incapable of having nice things…

St Crispin’s Cell

But when it comes to Ireland’s recently-introduced e-bikes for hire, Greystones has proven itself to be the worst customers on MOBY’s books.

A claim we weren’t sure about taking all that seriously when we first saw it posted on the Greystones Open Farm during the week. So, we got in touch our good friend Tay, at Team MOBY.

“Yes, we are having a lot of problems of vandalism and misuse of the bikes,” he answers when we put the Greystones title win to him. “Unfortunately, there is nothing more we can do, because people are breaking the rear wheel lock and abandoning bikes everywhere.”

As many people around Greystones have witnessed. One Guide reader got in touch just yesterday, after coming across two young scamps trying their best to buckle and disable a MOBY bike just outside St Laurence’s National School.

And she merely got an earful of abuse for asking them to stop.

Meeting a nice man from Cycle Plus later that same day who happened to be servicing one of the town’s damaged MOBY bikes, our reader was informed that of the 60 bikes in Greystones, 12 are off the road or missing, and a further 24 need to be taken in due to damage caused by vandalism.

Naturally, those responsible are all misunderstood and frustrated young soul rebels who just need an outlet for their pent-up anger at not having more opportunities in this town to express their unique voices and brooding inner genius.

So, they go around smashing community bikes. Because that’s how they don’t roll.

“MOBY check daily the pictures submitted by customers and fine them when the bike is abandoned or not parked to a bike stand,” continues Tay. “We are blocking the teens that are doing that, but is impossible to catch all of them.

“Hopefully, they will get bored and stop to destroying the bikes.”

Or their parents could just give them a hard and firm slap about the back of the head every once in a while.

“It’s disappointing and embarrassing for our community,” finishes our concerned reader. “It may not always work but, I think people need to be vigilant, and intervene when they see a bike being abused...”

You can find out more about MOBY right here, and the HSE’s guide to dealing child behavioural problems right here.