Bike Angels Community AMA 2023
UPDATE: This is thread is closed for new AMA questions. Feel free to add kudos to any unanswered questions! We’ll continue to monitor this thread, and of course the community is always open for members to post new topics and feedback.Big Thanks to Angels that joined in the conversation! Our first AMA is live—drop your questions below.🎉 As a reminder, our AMA is more passive than a traditional AMA, and will remain open for one week. Some helpful links: Community Guidelines Community FAQ Robert's Intro Remco's Intro Eliza's Intro robert_halo | Robert 13,165 Lifetime Points (As of today I have 11,415 lifetime points. But just wait until tomorrow....) Internal Mega Angel Software Engineer — Lyft Transit and Bikes I’m Robert, and I'm a strong believer in Bike Share as something that makes the world a better place. I use it and public transit all the time. The benefits in terms of pollution reduction, fewer cars on the road, etc. are fantastic. I also really love meeting other Angels. There's something wonderful about seeing the other person also dashing between stations and staring at their phone the same way that I do. We are all ages, all backgrounds, and all genders. We are often intense, but Doing Good. Hoping to meet more and more folks while out moving bikes. Although I don’t work on Bike Angels directly, I'm an active internal user (over 12k points), and I actively give early feedback and try my best to catch things and represent folks in the Angel community. Ask me Anything. Remco | Remco 3,674 Lifetime Points Community Mega Angel Software Engineer — Bike Angels I’m Remco, and I’ve worked on the Bike Angels Team for more than 3 years. Most recently, I’ve been working on tools that help the team simulate rides and ride conditions. My lifetime score is 3276; Even though we can test Bike Angels features just through software in our pre-production environment, I really want to go out to earn some points every week because it feels different if you need to bike and walk for your points. I find reading the balance between what's needed for the system and fun to do for the riders challenging, and seeing people get really caught up and excited about Bike Angeling super rewarding. Ask me anything. eliza | Eliza 206 Lifetime Points Redeemable Rewards Expert UX Designer — Bike Angels I’m Eliza, and I’ve been working on Bike Angels for two years as a UX designer on the Bike Angels Team. I work with the team to think of ways to improve the Bike Angels experience and hopefully make it more engaging. Most recently, I’ve been working on the new redeemable rewards structure. I'm a Bike Angel in San Francisco, a landscape with a lower density of points due to lower bike density, so my experience is a bit different than Angels in New York. I've travelled to New York various times to better understand Bike Angel point earning patterns, study point discrepancies between neighborhoods, and get a better sense of how efficient NYC Angels actually are! Ask me anything.
AMA Host Intro: Robert
robert_halo | Robert 13,165 Lifetime Points (As of today I have 13,165 lifetime points. But just wait until tomorrow....) Internal Mega Angel Software Engineer — Lyft Transit and Bikes Although I don’t work on Bike Angels directly, I'm an active internal user (over 12k points), and I actively give early feedback and try my best to catch things and represent folks in the Angel community. The most challenging thing about working with the Bike Angels Team is trying to understand how and why the points map changes, mostly based on guesswork since I'm not on the team. I hear about things like stations with A & B rows of docks and try to figure out if they will make it easier or harder for us to help us Angels make the system more balanced. Bike Angels is rewarding to me, because I love helping other riders get bikes when they need them and docks when they need them. The times when someone is super stressed, and I show up just in time to help them, really make my day. Being an Angel at Lyft is great, because you get to see that the people working here are really dedicated to bikeshare (and shared scooters too)! I feel like I have feet in both worlds: a rider who loves being out on a shared bike, and a member of a team who are passionate about providing shared micromobility.AMA Host Intro: Remco
Remco | Remco 3,674 Lifetime Points Community Mega Angel Software Engineer — Bike Angels I have been doing software testing in some form for most of my career. Within Lyft, I've mostly worked on tooling that allows people across the team to test features, including a tool that helps people take test rides without leaving their desk and simulated ride, which is a load testing tool we also use to continuously ensure service health in our pre-production environment. I'm a father of two girls, so most of my weekends are taken up by schlepping kids from parties to activities and so on, but occasionally I get to go on a date with my partner. I'm an intermittent photographer, but I shamefully have to admit that I've mostly started taking pictures with my phone because phone cameras have just gotten too good. I'm also the main cook in our household, so I can prepare a pretty decent meal. As a proud Dutchman without a driver's license I love getting around on bikes and by transit (not that I have much of a choice) and I love working on a product that helps generate the demand and critical mass that will make cities better for cyclists and pedestrians. Many weekends you can find me biking around on our family bike with two kids in the back seat. I wish it were safer for them to bike on the street. Maybe someday…AMA Host Intro: Eliza
eliza | Eliza 206 Lifetime Points Redeemable Rewards Expert UX Designer — Bike Angels As a UX Designer on the Bike Angels Team, I have the challenge of crafting a program that works for Angels of different engagement and experience levels. Mechanisms and features need to work really well for top-earning Angels, but we also strive to make the program more accessible and understandable for new participants, which can be difficult to balance. After learning about how dedicated Bike Angels are after joining the team a few years ago, I find it incredibly rewarding to work on a system that supports those trying to help other bikeshare users get a bike or a parking spot. It can be very frustrating to not be able to get where you need to go. Outside of biking for Bike Angels, I often cycle on my personal bike using it as my primary transportation (no car here). I'm also an amateur illustrator – you can find me at an independent comic book store most weekends. I love Desert Island Comics in Williamsburg!
