The ups and downs of Citibike, Day 3
Posted on May 30, 2013
So today I rode Citibike’s three times. With varying degrees of happiness and frustration. Today I made plans to go to the Cinnamon Snail vegan lunch truck while at work. Their normal Wednesday spot is on 55th and Broadway, which is a bit of a long walk from my office and I can’t always spare the time to do. I went out to the dock behind my office building and had zero problems getting a bike for my lunchtime trip. However all the street directions are a bit against me for this locale. I may go to one of their further east stops on a different day next time. Anyway the tofu pesto cashew cream sandwich was out of sight, also the apple cider donut. In this case, it’s all one trip, I’m on the citibike, waiting at the truck and then heading back to the same dock as all one trip.
The app shows a completely normal info screen on the number of bikes and docks available, I’m getting used to the displays, the dark blue represents bikes and the light blue represents docks on the little station icon.
Later in the day I planned to head from my office in Rockefeller Center to Astor Wines, again, because they were closed last time. I got out of the building and could not get any of the bikes to release to me. At least 6 other people had the same problem while I was standing there. One guy did get a bike to release, one that I had even tried. The stats list this station as one of the system’s “least popular” I have a feeling it’s because many times it’s not functioning properly. I’m now 50/50 on getting a bike out of it. I tweeted about this and DEAR HONORABLE CUSTO replied to me that the 51st and Broadway station was working well. I had luck with that station.
Off to Astor Wines, where I spent over $100 to get cocktail supplies for future posts on the Brooklyn Cocktail as well as the Corpse Reviver 2. This time it took me 1/2 hour to get there, and I really struggled to find the station even with the app, I might have had the map upside down, and I was sweaty and hot. I ended up at Mercer just above Houston, which wasn’t all that close. I should have stopped at Astor Place, which i know for next time. Then I decided to see how a citibike ride loaded down with groceries on each handle as I am wont to do. I could have hopped in the 6 to the L to the G, but instead got another bike at Astor Place bus plaza and loaded it down with bottles of hooch.
As usual when carrying stuff on handlebars, I needed to ride steady and slow. I dropped the bike at the station at 1st ave and 15th that I used on the first day and ran into a woman who dropped a bike and could not get another bike. Lots of not getting bike problems…not sure if it’s intentional when you drop a bike, since the system is still new and experiencing glitches, it will take a while to iron out what the rules are, or the timing is, for dropping one bike and picking up another. They have been intentionally vague about this and there are no rules stated about it. Unfortunately for, now I know I can’t fully trust the dock at my job, which is a shame. The stations need to work more reliably, because New Yorker’s like to plan their trips, of course we have other means to get where we are going but you do want to reasonably know you can get a bike, and how long your trip will take. If you have to walk to another station because the nearest one is a crapshoot, that’s not good long term.
Anyway, I still love the program. Ran into lots of other users, and lots of folks asking questions. You definitely feel like an ambassador for the program, but I couldn’t even take the time to answer every person who asked me about it. I was on the clock.
I did have to delete and reinstall the app to get it working. I think it’s still quite useful, but with some confusing aspects. Inactive stations…I’m not positive what that means right now. This grab seems mysterious to me, there are some bikes and a lot of empty docks, so is it working or not? People seem to have been able to get bikes out of it because a lot of slots are empty. I’m confused.
This one is active, but has zero bikes AND zero docks..what could that mean?
Anyway, watch out Williamsburg, more stations coming soon. I can’t wait for them to hit Greenpoint. One more thing I want to say, I think the bikes are cute. They are called ugly in every single story about them. They certainly aren’t sexy and racy like some bikes, but the bright blue is really very cheerful. I try not to compare them to other bikes and just look at them as singular thing, they are not ugly. I feel happy on one.