A cycle hire scheme championed by Boris Johnson is having to refund thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money after it was hit by glitches.
This week my favourite London Mayor, the enigmatic Boris Johnson, makes it into our Software testing Hall of Shame!
I was alerted to the fact that there was an impending hall of shame contender on Friday when I read sky news’ article ‘Boris Bikes’ Launch Despite ‘Many Concerns’
Mr Johnson apparently told LBC radio: “I have no doubt lots of things will go wrong.”
He insisted it would prove a “great success” in the long run but added: “The reality is that the software issues and technical issues of getting the whole thing up and running for tomorrow has been extremely difficult.” “It will be more of a gradual launch than a big bang. I have so many concerns it’s hard to pick one out.”
It seems that the blonde haired buffoon had not allowed enough time for adequate testing of the scheme and ironing out the kinks. By this point they were left with little choice but to go ahead with the launch despite concerns, but as the saying goes: Failure to plan is planning to fail.
Unsurprisingly Monday morning came with numerous reports of mayhem in the capital over the weekend.
The London Evening Standard reported that a quarter of both the promised bikes and their docking stations weren’t ready in time. The Boris bike section of the TfL website froze on Sunday and users yesterday claimed their electronic keys were not working despite activating them online. Problems have emerged with people who purchased multiple electronic keys from the same bank account – the daily or weekly subscription charge is automatically levied on all keys as soon as one is used, even if the others are not in use.
Oh dear, Boris.
The Telegraph humorously reported that ‘Mr Johnson, who describes himself as cycling like a “very elderly French onion seller”, admitted he is expecting “delirious” criticism of the scheme.’
