Leave a Review Citi Bike
Not worth the money anymore
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!Show lessbmc121389
New App Difficulties
I have been an avid Citi Bike member for nearly two years and love how easy it has made traveling through the city! That said, the new app has proved more difficult for me. Stations listed as open on the app are then closed when I attempt to unlock a bike; some bikes without QR codes or legible serial numbers; e-bikes listed as unavailable for rides despite showing up as fully charged; difficulty logging into the new app for the first time.
I recognize there are small issues when making transitions like this, but hopefully things will get worked out soon because the best part of Citi Bike is the convenience.Show lessEliHG15
New app looks and feels terrible
Detail station and bike angel view is very cluttered. It’s impossible to dismiss the prompt to rate the ride without giving a rating out of five stars, which barely makes sense for ride share but is totally overkill for a 10 minute bike share ride across town. I get emails after each ride letting me know that it cost $0...again, something that clearly came from the ride share business but makes no sense in this context.
It’s really stunning how badly these recent changes have been executed. I hope this does not bleed over into the actual service itself, which has been fine and in the case of electric bike availability, getting better.Show lessmsl422004
I hate the new update
DO NOT UPDATE THE APP. Everything will stop working. Ever since I updated the CitiBike app my bike key won’t work. I’ve spoken with 6 CitiBike customer service reps and they are worthless and no help. I’ve updated my credit card information in the CitiBike app, again in the Lyft app, and again on the Citibike website. My key still doesn’t work. Lyft keeps texting me saying I have to update my credit card information again. I try to contact Lyft and they keep telling me to call the driver using the app. I deleted the Lyft app this morning and I haven’t had a Lyft driver in months. I just want to ride Citibike so I can get to and from work.
Also, Bike Angels does not exist in the new app update.Show lesssmithcraigandrew
Feels like a regression from the original app
They’ve basically replaced the Citi Bike app with Lyft - I imagine the long term plan may be to force everyone to just use the Lyft app.
I used to be an active user of the Citibike Bike app when it was fully managed by Motivate. This new update to the Lyft branded version feels like a step backwards because it’s basically just the Lyft app with bikes. Sure you can still do the basics, but to me it looks like the focus was fitting bike share into Lyft’s design rather than building a bike share app.
Individual features like group rides are missing. The app only shows bike docks when you zoom in on a specific location, otherwise the map is empty. Ride history doesn’t show Bike Angels points earnings. Seeing empty/full docks at a glance feels less intuitive.
Maybe these features will return in time. But for now, I would much rather be using the Citi Bike app that was built for bike share. I’m happy to use the actual Lyft app if I want to use Lyft features.
I will say the one positive of this version is scan to unlock (but that was already available in the Lyft app).Show lessAlex2a
More Functionality, but Opaque UI
Like others, I am not a fan of the new map UI. In previous versions of the map, it was easy to see where docks are empty or full at a glance: if my destination dock were full, I could see that it’s bike “fuel gauge” was entirely colored in. Now, the dock icon displays only the available number of bikes, and to know if docks are available, you must either click on the dock icon or toggle the map to “parking.” I think it is more important to know if a dock has any open spots than the number of ebikes, and perhaps that data can require an additional click.Show lessbdhowald
Horrible Service
The Citi Bike NYC is diving into a terrible failure to look after your clients. Almost every day, my girlfriend is facing issues when she takes a bike, especially e-bikes. Many times she has taken an e-bike, it shows that the battery is fully charged or partially. When she starts riding it, and AFTER THEY CHARGE HER, the bike just doesn't work anymore, and she has to force her knees to pedal a heavy bike to her work. She often went to another station to change her bike, and when she gets it, i's the same problem. We've sent an email to try getting back the money they have charged from the damaged bikes, but they don't care and don't answer her back. We are stopping using the service and figure out a solution to get our money back.Show lessTrespix
Sneaky hidden fees for electric bikes
I used citi bikes for the first time yesterday. I never thought I’d need to use it, but I noticed that there were also electric bikes, and it piqued my interest because I never rode an electric bike before. So I thought, why not? I’ll take a single 30-minute ride for just $3. I ended up having a pretty good time, and I later decided to go for another 30-minute ride.
Never again.
When I checked my ride history, it said in small letters on the bottom: “Electric bike upgrade: $4.50.” Hmm... literally nowhere in the app did it say that the electric bikes would cost extra... but it’s only $1.50 extra since my ride was originally $3, so it’s fine... right? No. I checked my bank balance today, and I got charged $3.27 twice ($3 + tax for both rides), but then I got charged TWO MORE TIMES, once for $4.58 and another for $5.06 the next day. I then realized that they later charge you an EXTRA ~$4 if you pick out an electric bike.
Not only did using an electric bike more than double my bill, I was NEVER TOLD BEFOREHAND that it would do so. I am never using citi bikes again. This is just a heads-up for anyone thinking of using the citi bikes, and especially for anyone considering using one of their electric bikes.Show lessEugeneNam56
Need more locations in queens
This review is more about how the citi bikes are distributed throughout the city. I want to like citi bikes because I wish I could make it my main form of transportation but once i get over the bridge to queens I’m forced to dock the bike by Long Island city because their are no docking stations by me so I still end up on the train. Queens Blvd has a huge bike path with plenty of space for docking stations and lots of people bike it. Docking stations would make sense their. Their are so many throughout manhattan/bronx/Brooklyn that go unused yet barely any in queens. I just think it could be better mapped outShow less777dann
Prepare to pay
I really love riding these bikes around cities I’m visiting, however, their pricing policies are so confusing and it’s ridiculously inconvenient to have to stop at a bike kiosk every 30 minutes to avoid being charged by the minute. I don’t understand why a day pass isn’t really a day pass. We paid $15 for a day pass, rechecked the bike once again, paid another $16 in over 30 minutes fees for $31. for less than 2 hrs of bike time. Kind of a rip off- especially if you want to stop and have a meal.Show lessHollywas
