Citi Bike - Will It Succeed?
If you live anywhere in downtown or midtown New York City,
you have undoubtedly been made aware of the City’s new bike share program –
Citi Bike – not to mention, its ever so gracious sponsor, boasting its brand in
bright blue letters all over the bike. But
while the concept, including its mobile app, is innovative and the program
sensible, allowing New Yorkers to commute and transverse the crowded, traffic
ridden streets more easily, in practicality, as I’ve experienced it thus far, the
program is far from it. Supposedly, the best feature of the
bike-sharing program is the easy pickup and drop-off — for the urban biker, it
is really relaxing not having to worry about U-locks, pinheads or canny bike
thieves. The program’s mobile application’s
primary concern is to get you biking as quickly as possible, and it does that
by either calling up a map of nearby stations or showing the stations closest
to you in list form. The app also lists the number of bikes available at each
station as they are checked in and out, as well as the number of empty spaces
where riders can dock bikes. Once you have selected a station, the app provides
directions to or from that spot. The developers
of the app have made it extremely easy to use, almost barebones, so to
make the process of renting and riding a bike the consumer’s best option in
terms of transportation around the city.
However, what good is a simple and easy to use app when the program
behind it is flawed? As was my first and, to date, only experience with Citi
Bike, which involved four trips to pickup / drop off locations throughout the
lower east side, until I finally found a kiosk that was either on or responded
to my credit card – total time spent trying to access a bike ~35 minutes. While the program is still in test stages and a
savvy developer may consider adding other features to the app, such as information
about trails and bike shops, the fundamental aspects of the program first need
to be perfected before all the bells and whistles continue to be added.
1 comment:
I believe that this program is flawed from the start, as most Americans want to own their own methods of transportation, whether that be a car, motorcycle, or skateboard.
Additionally, I would say that city dwellers want to move around the city in a quick and easy manner when they need or want to move, rather than have to find the bikes, then worry about where to return them.
Post a Comment