Forum Discussion

RedDragon's avatar
RedDragon
Resourceful Rider
4 months ago

Idea: Always Offer Low-assist option for eBikes (next-gen)

As many riders know, the low-assist mode for next-gen eBikes is only available if there are no classic/acoustic bikes at the station. When you then scan the eBike using the app you choose between low assist and full assist. 

Citi Bike ought to offer the option of low assist for next-gen eBikes regardless of the presence of a classic/acoustic bike to accommodate. If you agree with this idea, please like this post to show your interest to the Bike Angel team.

 For me there are two reasons why I'd like to see this:

  1. Classic bikes have seats that don't go high enough for riders 6'1 or taller which can lead to knee pain for long or uphill rides. Next-gen bikes allow for the seat to move higher but more often than not I have to pay for this privilege because there are classic bikes at the station.
  2. On more than one occasion I don't get the pedal assist option for eBikes because there's one classic bike at a broken dock that can't be removed so I'm forced to pay for a full power eBike ride when I don't want to/shouldn't have to.

To streamline the experience, this should be an opt-in option so that full-assist riders used to scanning and riding aren't burdoned by having to choose full-assist each time. 

Lastly, in conjunction with this idea, please offer users the pedal assist preference via the iPhone and Android apps (under Settings). For some reason it is only offered via https://account.citibikenyc.com/profile after logging into your account making it frustrating and confusing for riders who primarily use the app and can't find anywhere to update their preference:

 

citibike
feedback
idea
low assist
  • brownoarsman's avatar
    brownoarsman
    Resourceful Rider
    3 months ago

    For what it's worth, I agree with this whole-heartedly. I too have been charged for an ebike when a manual bike was stuck in a dock and could not be taken out.

    In those events, I've had success reporting the stuck bike to Citibike, who has been able to resolve it pretty quickly (within 48 hours), but it's still just one more thing to do.

    • Jess's avatar
      Jess
      Bike Angels Team
      3 months ago

      Thank you for chiming in to share your perspective 👼 This sounds really frustrating when time is of the essence. I shared this post with the BA team when it was posted, and I'll continue monitoring this post for more feedback about low assist mode. 

    • BananaBlack's avatar
      BananaBlack
      Resourceful Rider
      3 months ago

      I agree as well. This happened to me just the yesterday day. Checked all classic bikes. None of them were available. Checked out an e-bike and it ended up charging me. Still working on a refund right now.

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

    Thank you for sharing this feedback here in the community! It's an interesting idea that riders might prefer pedal assist in other situations, and I'm eager to hear how other Angels might use pedal assist if it were offered with different constraints.

    I appreciate you providing the nuance about how other bikes at the dock affecting the ability to use the feature might be skewed if something isn't working. That is solid feedback I can take to my team right away.