Forum Discussion

Gaffano's avatar
Gaffano
Resourceful Rider
11 days ago

Who is in the Right, Citibike Employee or Me??

The other day I was on my way to do some errands when I saw a great point opportunity in the Manhattan area. The drop of spot was a major hub that needed bikes for after work riders, so was awarding 12 points.  So I went out of my way and dropped my bike off there scoring a good point combo. After docking I saw they were still awarding 12 points for drop off. A quarter mile away, a station was awarding high points to pick up. It was a nice night so I decided to do the combo to get some great points.  When I got back to the major CB hub, I docked the bike. All of a sudden an irate Citibike employee working as a concierge came up to me and said if I continued to do BikeAngels there he was going to suspend my BikeAngels membership. I was taken back, since this is the first time in 5ish years doing BA, that a concierge ever approached me like this, they have always been thankful for the help. The employee then went on to say that there were other BikeAngels dropping off bikes making his job hard. I said that I was only going by the points posted and though I was helping. He continued to get nasty, and I told him to take it up with Citibike if the point system is not reflecting a true supply/demand disruption that needs correction. Plus I told him he could have just asked me nicely instead of approaching in a belligerent way, I was not trying to cause him extra work. I then did my errands.

Anyway has this ever happened to others? Thanks!

  • RedDragon's avatar
    RedDragon
    Resourceful Rider

    What timing! I too just posted about this problem, was the station you had this experience with was just north of Grand Central? The problem is definitely with the Citi Bike algorithm. The valet/concierge is rightly annoyed that the algo is telling angels to drop-off bikes and angels are just doing what the algo is (wrongly) incentivizing.

    • Gaffano's avatar
      Gaffano
      Resourceful Rider

      No this was near the Fidi area, but good to know this is a issue at other concierge spots.

  • jm's avatar
    jm
    Hustlin' Helper

    We've had aggressive/lazy/hard to work with Divvy Valets also. Some real strange, unnecessary behaviors. 

    Weigh the grievance, and the repercussions, but if someone has to go, they have to go, abusing their job is a non-starter.

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    • Gaffano's avatar
      Gaffano
      Resourceful Rider

      Do they even have the authority/ability to suspend a members Bike Angels participation? Seems like an idle threat to me.

      • nina's avatar
        nina
        Moderator

        Hi Sean! We are so sorry to hear about this uncomfortable and frustrating experience. Please DM us the time and location of the station. We are happy to notify our operations team to discuss this issue with the employee in question!