Bike Angels Community AMA 2023
UPDATE: This is thread is closed for new AMA questions. Feel free to add kudos to any unanswered questions! We’ll continue to monitor this thread, and of course the community is always open for membe...
Forum Discussion
I notice that sometimes stations show that there are bikes available to check out, but when I arrive at the station, none of the docks work and all the bikes are stuck (presumably because the station is dead). Is there a way to have the app show when a station is out of commission? Thanks!
First of all, I feel your pain. I really do. We’ve passed that on, because it's great feedback. I know my friends on the teams that work on these problems are aware of it; it's just more complex than I wish it was.
Paraphrasing what I hear from colleagues: The reality is that our stations sit on NYC streets for many, many years. We've come a long way in designing our hardware to be incredibly resilient to the challenges that the streets pose; plus, we have hard-working maintenance crews out there every day to make them work. But, things still go wrong (and we’re working hard to shrink that list). What could possibly go wrong, you may ask? The list would amaze you – skyscrapers blocking the sun from reaching our solar panels, trucks backing into our kiosks, even rats chewing through electric cables. (What, they got tired of pizza?)
One of the things I've learned as a Bike Angel is "if something looks too good to be true, it probably is." Just one example: one afternoon I saw a 12-point pickup station in Union Square, surrounded by 6- to 12-point dropoff stations. I ran to the subway, got down there as fast as I could and... none of the bikes were releasing. That's why there was one pickup station surrounded by dropoff stations. I used a few words that would be unprofessional to share here (and I'm guessing you've used some of those words yourself). Worse yet: this wasn't the first time it had happened to me.
I keep falling into that same trap: "look at all those pickup points, surrounded by miles of drop-off stations!" I'm slowly learning to switch to the Parking view, and to check a few times. If there are zero parking spots, and it stays that way for 30 minutes, it's probably a station not releasing bikes. I realize that isn't a long-term fix, and like I said, we’ll pass along the feedback.
Yes...I have recognized the pattern as well. I even report the stations when I see there are 0 bikes and 0 docks, yet the stations can remain down for days...and sometimes weeks at a time. Union Square is a highly trafficked area, so when these stations are down (and I have a huge bag of groceries to carry home and a bad back) it is highly problematic. Also, the departments at Citi Bikes work in silos, so you see guys replacing batteries and returning repaired bikes to stations which are down anyway. This makes no sense. And when you tell them the station is down, they could care less. There is also no way to inform Citi Bike when you notice a particular dock is broken...so there are stations that can have broken docks for months at a time and show available docks on the app, even though the only ones available are broken. Also...the app used to indicate when a kiosk was down, but now it only shows that when a kiosk has been removed for renovation or when the city closes kiosks for events or parades. So somehow that feature got removed during an upgrade (so to speak). But the issue of stations going in and out at night (depending on when the traffic light changes or cars drive...or some other environmental factor) is strange. Can't the rats find anything tastier to chew on? Also...there should be cameras at the station to deter the vandalism that is so frequently occurring these days, along with the bike angels who appear to be gaming the system by riding back and forth.
