Forum Discussion

mschoenb's avatar
mschoenb
Resourceful Rider
2 years ago

Too many E-Bikes at high elevation stations

Ever since the new policy that ended our ability to get free e-bikes on stations with no regular bikes (see https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2023/09/19/say-good-bye-to-the-free-citi-bike-e-bike-loophole) I've noticed that certain stations have been accumulating a lot of E-bikes that don't leave the station. This happens more often on high-elevation stations- clearly people want to take e-bikes up a hill, but no one wants to take them down. Here is a picture of a station in Morningside Heights:

I know that you can ride E-bikes with "reduced power" after all the regular bikes are gone, but in my experience this is rather unpleasant. I think Citi Bike needs to reconsider this new policy. 

feedback
  • 2WG-4WB's avatar
    2WG-4WB
    Steady Solver
    2 years ago

    I experience this issue a lot  in Washington Heights. At then end of the day,  only e bikes are available,  but I prefer the new policy compared to before when many perfectly good classic bikes were stuck, made un available by people who wanted free e-bike rides 😡. 

    I don't find riding a low assist bike unpleasant.  Going downhill, low assist is no different from riding a full assist bike. 

    An alternate policy might be to ban, or give a time out to riders who flag an unreasonable amount of bikes as broken- especially bikes that have recently been ridden successfully. 

  • Jess's avatar
    Jess
    Bike Angels Team
    2 years ago

    Hey there, mschoenb, thank you for visiting the community and sharing this feedback about high elevation station supply and low assist ebike rides. I can see how this change might magnify the issue of several ebikes being left at high elevation stations.

     

    Feedback from the community is collected and shared with relevant teams, and we hope you'll return to the commuity in the future to share your experiences and ideas. ğŸ‘¼