Forum Discussion

Octimon's avatar
Octimon
Steady Solver
2 years ago

The CITIBIKE app is kinda buggy

Although it works pretty well in general, there are two ways it behaves oddly.

 

1. When you look at the number of bikes at various locations, the count is accurate.  After you unlock a bike and look at the same map, the number of bikes at nearby locations changes wildly (usually overestimating the number of bikes at your target station).  Not a big problem, but clearly a bug.

 

2. This one just bit me.  The backstory is that a couple months ago, I took a bike out at 112th and Fred Douglass thinking that it was a points-neutral station.  Someone else was also taking a bike out around the same time.  When I arrived at my +12 destination, I got zero and and end-of-streak notice.   Ack.   I attributed it to my own mistake and have since double-checked the point value before I pick up a bike and always avoid unlocking at the same time as other riders.  But a few minutes ago, I went to the same station, checked that it was neutral before unlocking, verified that no one else was unlocking, and moved a bike to a +12 location and got the same unhappy notification -- ack!  Oh well, it's not the end of the world, but I thought I would mention it in case the programmers could fix this problem for others.

 

  • Octimon's avatar
    Octimon
    2 years ago

    Thanks for both of these helpful clarifications.  I was wrong -- the first bug is not a bug at all.  The second one requires a quick check after unlocking -- will do.

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

    1. After you undock the app switches to a free parking spots view (because most people will want to know where they can park once they're in ride). There's a parking toggle in the bottom right that can switch between the available bikes and available dock views.

    2. The points only freeze once your ride has started, so if points roll over around the time you're unlocking you might get unlucky. The best way to prevent this disappointment is to check the app after you've unlocked. If your start station has changed into a drop off station you can preserve your streak by immediately returning the bike, since we treat rides that start and end at the same station as neutral rides.

    • Octimon's avatar
      Octimon
      Steady Solver
      2 years ago

      Thanks for both of these helpful clarifications.  I was wrong -- the first bug is not a bug at all.  The second one requires a quick check after unlocking -- will do.

      • Octimon's avatar
        Octimon
        Steady Solver
        2 years ago

        New bug issue, which first appeared yesterday and reappeared in a different location today.  Yesterday at 40th Street on the West Side Highway: the station had 3 exit points.  When trying to unlock a bike, I got message "Your rideshare is not properly docked."  This was after I had taken one ride to/from different locations without incident.  I restarted the app; nope.  I restarted the phone; nope.  Gave up and went to a different station, which worked fine.  Same thing happened this morning, again after a successful ride at 113th and Broadway, again a station with 3 exit points.  I wondered if it was just me, but another guy had the same issue.  Went to another station, and it worked fine.