Citi Bike ٤+

It was great during height of quarantine. So good for my mental health and got me back into the habit of commuter biking, but the cost is ridiculous. There should be a better membership option for NYers. With the amount I bike (and I would even more if it weren't for cost), I calculated and it's way cheaper for me to buy a great $1000 bike in installments AND a storage unit a block from me than the cost of using Citi e-bikes. And then at least I own it.

The regular bikes are unuseable even to my experienced biking friends who bike into the Catskills from BK. They are incredibly heavy and also not worth the price. I guess it's good for the occassional bikers or if friends are in town. But there is no benefit to it as a public transit alternative. It's such a shame.

There also should be a way to get helmuts. The number of people biking now with no protection is not good. Get Mips!

I think citibike is an awesome tool for people to commute and get places when the trains/buses/cabs, or walking, aren’t portions. I have my own bike but it’s been getting maintenance, so I decided to try out the citibike for the first time. The gear system on these things really isn’t that great, you can pedal very hard but not really cover that much ground like a true bike. Also on my second time ever, the bike would not lock in the station...it was 3 am, and the subways and buses were not operating properly. The man on the phone told me to go to another station where there were 5 docks a few blocks away. I get there and there was only one dock and Again, the bike would not lock! I was starting to get charged overage, so I called again and asked what I could do, and I was told unfortunately I had to go to another station. I said that I was just told to go to THIS station but that the guy was wrong because there was only one dock and that I just wanted to be refunded and if I could just leave the bike but that I couldn’t leave the Bike because I would get charged for damages ....he then hung up on me. I called ONE last time and the lady said that she would send me an email, that, if I DO get charged, the email will basically cover me. I cannot wait to delete this app and my account...just waiting to make sure I don’t get charged some ridiculous fee....never riding citibike again.

Awhile back I had a citibike stolen from me at the charging station. Immediately after the incident occurred, I called citibike and reported it to them. They informed me I needed to report the incident to the NYPD. It was late, so I couldn’t do it that night, but I was still charged up to $300 for the ride. I reported the theft to the NYPD, who investigated the incident. Citibike informed that, in order to not be charged the $300 for the ride and the $1000 for the lost bike, I needed to provide them with the police report. I sent them the slip provided to me by the NYPD stating I submitted a complaint, and the number of the detective. After several calls with citibike customer service, they still insisted that I needed to submit the official police report. After calling the NYPD, I discovered that the only way to really get the report was through a long process of requests, which would likely still not allow me access to the report as, technically, citibike was the victim since it was their bike. Even still, citibike would not refund me. I ended up successfully disputing the charge through my bank. If citibike is going to release a fleet of very expensive bikes into NYC, they need a better system in the event of theft. I’d rather swim across the east river than use citibike again.