Sunday, June 09, 2013


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:

Unknown said...

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.