CaBi Launches Bike Angel Program

[peterw_diy]

Wow, CaBi online support is so bad, it's like they're trying to be awful.

Having heard no response two weeks after emailing "customerservice@bluebikes.com" as directed by CaBi's initial response, I tried the online support form again. This time, after merely two days, in addition to the same sort of boilerplate response that didn't address my questions, CaBi directed me to email "bikeangels@capitalbikeshare.com". This time I didn't need to wait two weeks for confirmation that sending the email was pointless -- I got an immediate response from CaBi's email provider that the email address "bikeangels@capitalbikeshare.com" isn't valid. 👍

My greener side is still interested in helping rebalance, to make CaBi a more appealing alternative to autos. But that desire is outweighed by my growing animosity towards CaBi.

[secstate]

My greener side is still interested in helping rebalance, to make CaBi a more appealing alternative to autos. But that desire is outweighed by my growing animosity towards CaBi.

If an issue so trivial is causing animosity toward CaBi, yes, please take a break.

[infinitebuffalo]

Even when I've refreshed the app immediately before taking out or docking a bike, I've experienced several occasions where I earn fewer points than what the app showed. I chalked it up to there being some sort of lag between the app and traffic at the docking stations. Since the points are an added bonus for my ordinary use of CaBi, the discrepancies haven't bothered me too much.

oddly, i've gotten more points than expected on a couple occasions, when I've taken a Cabi+ out from a station that was showing a point available for bringing bikes in. I expected to lose a point then, but didn't.

I did get the email notice of my free week of membership almost immediately after reaching 20 points for September--within hours, certainly.

[Yule]

I got an immediate response from CaBi's email provider that the email address "bikeangels@capitalbikeshare.com" isn't valid.

The Bike Angel program is run by Motivate. There are Bike Angels programs running in several cities; I believe NYC was first. Afaik, all are centrally controlled by Motivate. The way to get an inquiry addressed is, I would presume, [something]@motivateco.com.

One reason for this confusion is that there are now two layers of "bureaucracy" in Capital Bikeshare, i.e. the CaBi layer itself and the Motivate layer. I don't know who does what, but there are clearly some communication-mismatch issues; but, then, the relationship is still young.