Rebalance crews handle first pleasant weather with aplomb; NotSpot Index at record lows

About the NotSpot Index

• In the first week with some real bicycling weather, Citi Bike had but one bad day. The third straight day of temps in the 50s proved too much. NotSpots soared to 68 empty stations at 10:30 am Wednesday.
• Now at a record seven straight weeks in the green zone.
• Week 10 matched its 2014 counterpart.

Available bikes means the number of bikes in the docks. Fleet size would be the number of available docks plus the number of bikes being ridden at the time.

• What’s most intriguing is that Citi Bike is keeping the system relatively balanced with about 1,000 fewer bikes on the street.
• Crews ARE pumping more bikes into the system. Available bikes hit a high for the year on Thursday afternoon. And there’s been no spike in empty stations which would be a pretty good indicator that the fleet is too small.

What Citi Bike has done for Citibank

To the story

An excerpt

Citibank's popular New York City bike-share program, Citi Bike, taught the firm to step out of its comfort zone, stay true to its brand and experiment to keep fresh. Nearly two years in, the company continues to lean on the initiative to strengthen its brand image.

22% of Citi Bike stations empty at 9:30 am

White circles with borders are empty stations. Screenshot taken shortly after 9:30am

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First spring-like day and Citi Bike keeps it in balance

About the NotSpot Index

Last year, Tuesday March 11 was the first spring-like day and the Citi Bike system groaned under the task of getting bikes to empty stations. NotSpots hit 58 at 11:30 am -- that’s 18 percent of the system out of service. For the day, the NotSpot Index was in the red zone at 46.

Throughout the spring, Citi Bike service deteriorated until it hit a record high 96 NotSpots on May 27.

If Monday’s NotSpot number of 29 is a harbinger of things to come this spring, we’re looking forward to a delightful season.

What a ridiculous question! Of course Citi Bike should stay open year-round, say 80% in poll

So overwhelming were the results, we took the poll down. We had asked:

Should Citi Bike keep operating in winter?

POSSIBLE RESPONSES VOTES

Yes. Other modes of mass transit have their problems in winter, too.	28 (80%)
No. Too much damage to bikes and too many days when you can’t ride.	6 (17%)
Who cares? I ride Citi Bike Miami.	1 (2%)

Should Citi Bike keep operating in winter? Take our poll

Taken by sassyeils

Not that we want to influence the poll in any way, but here's our argument for shutting down during January and February.

Annual membership flatlines; new signups at record low

Annual memberships have flatlined at 88,000 after a decline from 105,000 last April.

New member signups year to year are remarkably close. January’s number of 651 is the  lowest yet recorded. We expect to see a surge in March.