Addressing Service Disparities in Citi Bike: A Personal Perspective from Eastern Queens
The NYC Comptroller's office recently published a report titled "Riding Forward: Overhauling Citi Bike’s Contract for Better, More Equitable Service" highlighting performance disparities within the Citi Bike program. One key issue identified is the disparity in service levels between the Manhattan core and the outer boroughs, particularly in neighborhoods predominantly inhabited by Black and Hispanic residents. I want to share my personal experience supporting this issue. As a frequent rider starting in eastern Queens, I often encounter a lack of available dock space at nearby stations. Unlike the midtown commuting stations, which are regularly drained and repopulated, these stations remain perpetually full. This morning's view is a case in point: Many stations are completely full, which artificially suppresses demand as it becomes impossible to dock bikes. Additionally, some stations show 1 or 2 available docks on the app, but in reality, they are also full, misleading the algorithm and exacerbating the problem. I downloaded the real-time GBFS status at 6 AM this morning and examined a random station (99 St & 38 Ave) as a boundary. There are 51 stations to the east of this station, 19 of which are completely full (excluding stations falsely showing 1 or 2 available docks). That's 37% of stations being unusable, far exceeding the 2% or 4% requirement per Citi Bike's contract with the City. If I explored further, this percentage could easily rise to 50%. These 19 full stations have 411 bikes docked. These bikes are underutilized compared to others. By redistributing just half of these bikes (around 200) to Manhattan, we could potentially increase revenue by $36,000 per month (based on May 2024 figures). This issue is not isolated to Queens; Red Hook, lower Manhattan, and other outer boroughs face similar neglect. We're likely missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue due to inefficient bike usage. Additionally, addressing this problem could help avoid potential penalties. Citi Bike uses a combination of trucks, treks, and Angels to rebalance bikes, but this effort seems absent in my neighborhood. Community outreach to increase usage is futile if Citi Bike remains unusable for these residents. One possible solution is to adjust the Angel reward program to prioritize redistributing bikes from congested areas. However, the current point system incentivizes Angels to work in Manhattan, where they can earn 12-15 points by moving bikes a few blocks, as opposed to half a mile or more in congested areas. I would love to hear from the program managers at Citi Bike about their thoughts on this issue and potential solutions to address it.Fall Insights Blog
Fall Insights Blog 2023 Insights from October - December 2023 Movers & Shakers Supermember Shout Out | @jerv3 Jerv3 is a founding member of the Bike Angels Community, and they are still actively connecting with Angels here. Their contributions in Q4 created several engaging threads that become helpful resources for Bike Angels to find in the future. Their posts and replies are clear and thorough, and they share personal experiences to help add context to community discussions. Big shout out to Jerv3 for all their contributions to the community over the past two years. Jerv3 Stats: Community Member since April 2021 33 community posts 27 Kudos Received 32,561 Lifetime Bike Angels Points Badge Report 🥇 242 Badges Awarded in Q4 🥇 6 Members earned the Highly Favored 5 Badge 7 Members earned the Returning Rider 100 Badge Community Connections Hot Posts 👀💬 Most Views and Replies: @robertripps’ post with feedback about their experience with the new docks received the most views and replies in Q4 received 152 views, seven replies, and 14 kudos ⭐This Post helped uncover how to use a bike key with the new dock hardware 👀💬 Most Kudo’d Thread: The @mmschaff’s post about a falling bike seat was the runner-up for the most kudos of any thread ⭐ This post helped clarify when and how to ‘wrench’ a bike to flag it for our Operations Team Miracle Working How the Community Improves The BA Experience Improved Onboarding for BA Program 👶 These community posts helped create unique online help resources for specific topics like: Where Have all the Pink (HIGH) points gone? Uncovered Bugs 🐛 The power of the community is often found when things aren’t working as designed. The collaboration that happens here can help add context to complex issues quickly, which allows our teams to more effectively resolve bugs. Big shout out to the members below that posted in the community when things didn’t seem right. 🪲@sean's post about seeing an unfamiliar error on the map in their app 🐞@jerv3’s post about no longer being able to track their monthly points total easily in the app How’s My Driving? Insights from our Site Survey We want to hear from you! We served 814 surveys this Fall, and received 22 completed responses for a 2.7% completion rate. Insights from the survey are used directly to plan site improvements, content, and to understand how we can deliver what Angels expect from the community experience. This Fall, most Angels were visiting the community looking for information or to connect with other Angels, and 45% of all respondents reported they found what they were looking for when visiting the community—down 3.1% from the Summer. Most respondents described the community as ‘OK’, but we saw a total of 45% that reported they were satisfied or very satisfied. Check what Angels are saying below: Site Survey Insights | Q4 2023 What was the purpose of your visit to the Bike Angels Community? Were you able to find what you were looking for? How would you rate your overall experience?
