Forum Discussion

ChrisSJ's avatar
ChrisSJ
Casual Commenter
4 years ago

Dock and take back out

Has something changed recently where you can no longer take back out a bike you just docked?

My work to home ride is right on the 40min line and on a hot day when I’m slower I often dock once I reach the park and then take it back out to avoid going over 45mins.

I docked but then it wouldn’t let me take the bike and said please take another bike. Only problem is the dock was empty so I had to walk to another one. 
Same thing happened when I had a crap electric and passed a dock with one electric. I docked, went for the other, it was red lit so I went back to my original but it wouldn’t let me take it, “bike unavailable, please take another”. Had to get my bag and walk back to the original dock. 

Very annoying feature if they’ve changed something. 

  • WestEndAl's avatar
    WestEndAl
    Steady Solver
    4 years ago

    Hey, Chris,

     

    It took Citibike a week to come up with an answer to your straight-forward question, and their answer doesn’t make a lot of sense. First, they’re implying that removing some feature from the system makes the system better; second, by stating that you can take out another bike, indicates that the system knows you’ve returned the first bike, since you can’t have 2 bikes out at the same time.

    • BikeAngelsTeam's avatar
      BikeAngelsTeam
      Community Manager
      4 years ago

      WestEndAl We understand this change can be inconvenient, especially when the bike that was just docked is the only one available. This change was necessary because we were seeing issues on riders accounts when the same bike was being unlocked immediately after being docked. This was causing riders to be overcharged. The system does immediately recognize the first bike being docked, but the issue is with the next ride that was being unlocked seconds after. While our engineering team works on finding the root cause and fixing it, the waiting period was turned on. We obviously hope this is a quick fix from our engineering team and we will be sure to let you know when the waiting period is removed. Thanks for being so dedicated! 

  • Jaylen's avatar
    Jaylen
    Resourceful Rider
    4 years ago

    Hey ChrisSJ! We're SO sorry to hear about this. We were previously seeing issues with consecutive unlocks and a "waiting period" of a few minutes was added to allow the system to correctly process unlocks. However, you should be able to take another bike out at the same station without delay. If you continue to have trouble with this the please reach out to our helpful support team by calling them at 1-855-BIKE-311, or you can submit a support form here https://www.citibikenyc.com/contact.