Dublin bike operator Moby Move has been criticised online for some of it's terminology in relation to its bike rental service, specifically the use of the word 'ride'.
Dr Eemer Eivers spoke out on Twitter about her experience using the Moby app to book a bike in Dublin. She noticed immediately that bikes were given female names on the app. The booking was confirmed with the sentence “You are riding… Maeve” visible on her screen which she found problematic.
“I emailed them to ask if they would reconsider reverting back to numbering the bikes which they previously had done, which I thought was a fairly basic request,” Eemer told Dublin Live.
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She received an initial response defending the policy, saying that the term was “empowering” for women cyclists. Eemer explains that the problem itself was not that the bikes were named after women, but that the use of the term ‘ride’ was tone-deaf.
“Anybody in Ireland knows exactly what that term means. I’m sure some people find it funny but it has consequences, especially when women only cycle at about a third the rate that men do. It is massively discouraging for women who want to cycle and move around Dublin City in a safe way,” she added.
Although Eemer had heard reports that the app used both male and female names, she could only find evidence of bikes named after women following an extensive search on the app.
Moby is an electric bike sharing scheme that first launched in Dublin in 2019. The company received over 10,000 sign ups in its first year of operations. Moby was also responsible for giving healthcare workers free access to bikes during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Eemer later confirmed that the issue was resolved after she spoke to the company’s operators about the trend. Moby Move have reportedly reverted back using numbers for their Dublin bikes.
“We do indeed use female names for some of our bikes and we also use male names for others. We and other operators across the industry have found this to be a fun and engaging way to connect with our customer base as often users will specifically rent the bike with their own name or a name that they have a connection with,” Moby stated in a request for comment.
“We understand within Ireland the word ' Ride' has been taken in a slang manner, however this has nothing to do with the real meaning of the word which is completely normalised and synonymous within the industry right across the globe.”
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