Forum Discussion

mg09383's avatar
mg09383
Resourceful Rider
2 years ago

Definition of a positive ride?

I was trying to extend my streak and took a ride from one station that was offering 8 points to remove a bike to another station that was offering 2 to remove a bike. I assumed this would be a net positive ride (8-2=+6) but I gather you have to have a neutral station or one offering points to bring bikes. 

 

  • T1m3Wizard's avatar
    T1m3Wizard
    2 years ago

    Hey mg09383, based on your description this would actually end your streak. It's considered a positive ride when you first took out that +8 points to remove a bike but then since you docked it at a station that also required a bike to be taken out, your streak ends there.

    Had you ridden to a station that offer points for a returned bike (+2 for example) then you would have continued your streak and earned a total of 10 points for that trip.

     

    Or even if you had ridden to a neutral station offering no points then that would have also counted as a positive ride earning you a total of 8 points for that trip.

  • T1m3Wizard's avatar
    T1m3Wizard
    Steady Solver
    2 years ago

    Hey mg09383, based on your description this would actually end your streak. It's considered a positive ride when you first took out that +8 points to remove a bike but then since you docked it at a station that also required a bike to be taken out, your streak ends there.

    Had you ridden to a station that offer points for a returned bike (+2 for example) then you would have continued your streak and earned a total of 10 points for that trip.

     

    Or even if you had ridden to a neutral station offering no points then that would have also counted as a positive ride earning you a total of 8 points for that trip.

    • Remco's avatar
      Remco
      Bike Angels Team
      2 years ago

      T1m3Wizard is correct; you will only earn points for rides that end at a station that is neutral or that has drop off points. I understand that this may be a little bit confusing, but unfortunately we need to do this this because otherwise we would see people making lots of moves within a neighborhood, while the only thing that will alleviate pressure from a neighborhood is people moving bikes away (even if bike angels move mostly happen at the edges of those neighborhoods).

      • SpinningJenny's avatar
        SpinningJenny
        Resourceful Rider
        2 years ago

        That doesn't fully make sense to me. I understand that the ideal, preferred move is between neighborhoods, but

        • If the source station has higher pressure than the destination, regardless of the absolute points at the destination, isn't this still an improvement to balancing? E.g. from a 1-point-drop to a 4-point-drop = 3 points improved. Assuming the point value at a station is a measure of how severe the station needs rebalancing, any positive difference seems to me of value.
        • It doesn't seem reasonable to ask a rider to go more than a few blocks out of their way, given the time cost vs reward value. The rarity of a neutral station within 5 blocks of my destination makes it such that I can never keep a streak going.

        Let me know if I'm misunderstanding any of that. Otherwise, that's some feedback to Lyft on the feature.