I often see the non electric bikes locked up for extended periods outside buildings in NYC. I assume someone went to a docking station and took a bike that someone docked improperly. I guess the bike member gets hit for the lost bike charge? Is there any Bike Angel reward for reporting the bike info and location? That would be a true "Angel" helping member and CB.
We've never implemented a reward system for lost bikes because that would open up a whole can of worms of perverse incentives to create more "lost" bikes.
If you want to do good without doing too much work, scanning the QR code of a loose bike in the Citi Bike (or Lyft) app will update the bike location with your phone location and create or update a task for our associates to recover the lost bike.
Yeah good point on the perverse incentives. I am going to try out the app reporting next time I see one. However, I assume most of the time the thief has removed the QR code. If that is the case can I take a picture or some other way of reporting to CB? I dont need a reward, just feel sorry for the person who improperly docked the bike and possibly hit with a lost bike fee and would like to help.
In my experience picking up abandoned bikes people just take and leave a bike somewhere else 90% of the time and I'm that case they generally don't bother with removing markets. The best way to report a bike with a photo is through this form; there is a "I'd like to report an abandoned bike" option that allows you to add a photo: https://lyft-bikes-scooters.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000807254&bss_market=nyc&return_to=https://help.citibikenyc.com/hc/en-us
When we report things internally were asked to add a Google Maps pin of the bike location to the report to get the location right.
Finally, it goes without saying that your safety is paramount; don't touch a bike if you aren't sure that it's truly abandoned.
