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
Does starting or ending at a valet station end a boost cycle? Or is it considered a neutral station? Or do you just not get any points if starting or ending at a valet station, but the boost cycle remains uninterrupted?
I ask because I’m right at a valet station now but I don’t want to risk starting a ride and losing my boost. Not getting points for this ride would be fine, but I don’t want to break my boost. So will skip it for now. Thanks.
There are no special rules for valet stations. If it's neutral it can be used for both drop offs and pick ups, but valet stations can also have drop off or pick up points.It's possible that the valet notices that you're rebalancing and asks you to stop because their estimate is that they need to corral or remove more bikes in order to get to a good balance at the end of their shift regardless of what the points scoring mechanism says. If that's the case please follow their instructions.
In this instance, and some other occasions, the app shows a valet icon without saying anything about being pick up, drop off or neutral. Also in this instance, after lunch, there was no actual valet present or at least that I could see (and I’ve seen valets at this location before, 67th and 1st Avenue Manhattan). There were plenty of open docks, though extra bikes were stacked next to the station (which is common there). This location, at least in my past experience, has a valet in the morning and then it switches to normal display late morning. I’ve heard of and seen delay in the app updating its valet status after the station is no longer being attended by a valet, and perhaps today was such a case.
When I am in this neighborhood, I’m usually there primarily for an appointment or meeting, rather than in the middle of a sequence of rebalancing. I typically drop off for my appointment and then look to pick up here if possible without walking to a station farther away. I might normally bypass a valet station while Re balancing, but in this case I’m more interested in simply not breaking my streak while going or leaving my appointment.
If the app only shows a valet icon, how do we tell if it is safe to drop off or pick up or if it is neutral?
I've dropped off at valet stations before and gotten points. And my streak has continued. I think the point values are exactly what you see displayed (including neutral stations), whether or not there's a valet.
Now, between us Bike Angels, I'll say that a big part of why I do this to be a Good Person and to help other bike riders. So if a station has a valet, and it has 70 bikes, and it has drop-off points... then I'll probably try to drop off at another station. That doesn't have to do with the algorithm, it just has to do with my trying to help the most people. A station with only 1 bike is more vulnerable to running out of bikes than another station with 70 bikes and a valet. I want to help that rider who shows up at the first station looking for a bike.
I'm guessing a lot of you do the same kind of "how can I help people?" calculations during your runs.
