Forum Discussion

KingNerd1's avatar
KingNerd1
Resourceful Rider
4 months ago

IDEA - incentive for moving eBikes

Somebody posted that there is no incentive to move ebikes.  I had an idea this morning for how to create an incentive.

The algo could be optimized such that Citibike could recognize situations where Dock A was ebike heavy, but Dock B had few or no ebikes.  Since it improves the network to more evenly distribute ebikes, the algo could temporarily "toggle off" all regular bikes at Dock A making them out of service -- which would create an incentive for Bike Angels to move an ebike in low-pedal assist mode (free) from Dock A.  Since Dock B nearby had vacancies, BAs should spot that opportunity and move the ebike.  Once Dock B got enough ebikes, Citibike could "toggle on" the regular bikes at Dock A, and return to normal system function.

The only people who would be mad about this algo modification are non-BA users who go to Dock A hoping/expecting to use a pedal bike, but find none available.  On the other hand, for every person who is upset at Dock A, there is probably a person who goes to Dock B hoping to find an ebike and is delighted to find one (assuming a BA moved an ebike there), so on balance, as far as user experience goes, this algo change should be more or less neutral over time.

citibike
feedback
  • Jess's avatar
    Jess
    Bike Angels Team
    4 months ago

    Hi, KingNerd1thanks for posting this idea in the community. I'm interested to hear other member's opinions, and I've marked this tag as feedback so we can track this over time. 

    My gut check is that it'd be hard to justify making other bikes unavailable to rebalance ebike supply, but I like the idea of finding ways of incentivizing ebike movements to help make them more consistently available where riders want them. I like your creative approach to this, and I hope other Angels chime in with their thoughts/ideas, as well.  ðŸ˜‡