Forum Discussion

bcasey11's avatar
bcasey11
Casual Commenter
4 years ago

Is Bike Angels Serious about Improving Biking in NYC??

I went to the station at W74th & Columbus at 11:50pm on Wednesday night. The station was worth -1 point, meaning Bike Angels could receive one point bring a bike to this station. The problem, 24 of 24 docks were full and I watched riders ride away because they could not dock their bikes.

 

This experience makes me wonder, what are you smoking at the Bike Angels HQ? How can you have negative points at a full station? I'd love to help improve biking in NYC, but it seems like Citibike is not even trying. Stations that are full should offer positive points to create docking stations for other riders. This should be obvious.

  • rock48's avatar
    rock48
    Resourceful Rider
    4 years ago

    I have seen the same thing:  points to bring bikes to fairly crowded stations and the opposite.  Also, 4 points to bring bikes to a station and 1 point to bring to a station that is proportionally just as needy.  Both data and the effectiveness of the point assigning algorithm need human monitoring.  Or please reveal the rationale to us Angels.  

     

  • Jaylen's avatar
    Jaylen
    Resourceful Rider
    4 years ago

    Hey bcasey11, we're sorry to hear about this! We'd be happy to explain Bike Angels points. The negative points at stations indicate that we're giving points for taking bikes out of that station to clear up dock space for riders. This is why you saw the negative points since the station was full and needed bikes taken out. If you'd like to read more about how to earn Bike Angels points then check out this link https://www.citibikenyc.com/bike-angels/points.

     

    We're working hard to keep docks and bikes available for our riders at multiple locations at all times of the day, but we also are very thankful for our Bike Angels who help with this rebalancing process!

    • CarolTandava's avatar
      CarolTandava
      Steady Solver
      4 years ago

      I think there is some confusion here. “Negative” means a dropoff station. “Positive” is a pickup station. bcasey11 wants to know why a full station was designated as dropoff, when it should have been pickup.

      • bcasey11's avatar
        bcasey11
        Casual Commenter
        4 years ago

        CarolEandava is correct. Bike Angels was offering points to drop off a bike, even when the station was full. This is bad for Citibike. If I could have picked up a bike here and brought it to an empty station, it would have been much better.