Broken CaBi Stations

[Kolohe]

This just happened to me also at Quincy and Glebe in Ballston/Buckingham. I thought I could score an e bike, but the dock isn't letting any bikes get checked out through either key fob or app, and the control screen is blank too

[Yule]

Would be curious to hear from someone with expertise on the matter re what the problem is (could be) that is regularly shutting down stations seemingly at random. This could really hurt Capital Bikeshare for long run viability if it continues.

[PaulDeMaio]

Yule, yes CaBi people are reading this. We're working on this station off-lining issue with our operator and hope to have the issue resolved soon. Additionally, I've shared your suggestions with our app team to improve our customer experience.

Thanks for your note.

Paul DeMaio
Capital Bikeshare & Shared Mobility Manager
MetroBike, LLC
Contractor for Arlington County Commuter Services
Department of Environmental Services
Arlington County, VA
202-684-8126
paul@metrobike.net
CapitalBikeshare.com

My humble suggestions, if any CaBi people are reading this:

If, from time to time, stations go offline, we do understand ("Unfortunately, nothing can always work perfectly," is I think close to what one of the most pleasant/personable customer service reps told me this week, while sorting out one of the docking issues that came up, as described in a post above). It would help the system a lot if we could all more easily contribute to the health of the system, IMO, as follows:

(1) CaBi does a great job letting users report defective or broken bicycles (the wrench buttons on the docks; the new button on the app ("Problem with the bike? Report it here"); and an email form in both cases for users to click one of a list of boxes to point technicians to the issue encountered), but I am told that there is no process to report malfunctioning docks and offline stations. One of the customer service reps told me there was no way to report an offline station except by a phone call to the customer service line. This seems inefficient, and most people simply aren't going to take the time to do make a phone call each time. A way to easily report malfunctioning docks and especially offline stations would be nice.

(2) Consider a way to let users know that a station cannot be used at a given time by "greying it out" on the app. That way, people won't waste their time going to that station only to be unable to get a bike or dock because a station is dead/offline ("disconnected" as the customer service agents all seemed to call it). There is already a process for this "greying out" of stations. Occasionally stations are cleared out of bikes and taken offline before special events, and then "greyed out" on the app's map. Most recently I recall Rosslyn area stations were "greyed out" during the 36 hours or so leading up and during the Marine Corps marathon. So why can't this greying out be a 'live' feature, just like bike levels are updating near instantly. This won't help non-app and first-time users, but it will help core users.

[n18]

To add to the mix, it seems that this is the company that supplies the bikes and the stations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBSC_Urban_Solutions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBSC_U...nal_developers
https://www.pbsc.com/city/washington-dc/
https://www.pbsc.com/

[bkingva]

PaulDeMaio, I just wanted to say thank you for responding to the concerns raised here, and for your service's general attentiveness to your members. Your representatives have always been extremely helpful on the few occasions when I've had any problems with CaBi.

[obscurerichard]

I'm glad that CaBi leadership is reading this and working to correct the issues.

Yesterday around 9:15 AM none of the bikes at Reston Wiehle station would undock, they all had red lights. The next closest station, at Sunset Hills & Issac Newton Square, had bikes that would not undock, the light just flashed yellow and never reached red or green. It was super frustrating for those of us who rely on CaBi to get from the Metro to Reston Town Center. A fellow cyclist and I ended up sharing a Lyft to get there.

[dbehrend]

I'm glad that CaBi leadership is reading this and working to correct the issues.

Yesterday around 9:15 AM none of the bikes at Reston Wiehle station would undock, they all had red lights. The next closest station, at Sunset Hills & Issac Newton Square, had bikes that would not undock, the light just flashed yellow and never reached red or green. It was super frustrating for those of us who rely on CaBi to get from the Metro to Reston Town Center. A fellow cyclist and I ended up sharing a Lyft to get there.

The continuously flashing yellow light was what I experienced with the stations that ended up being offline.

Thank you, Paul and your team. I'm glad to hear CaBi is working on this. I echo the earlier comment - I've always had good experiences with the CaBi customer service folks.

[PaulDeMaio]

I’m happy to report that we’re close to having this issue resolved. Capital Bikeshare’s operator is in the process of replacing older station batteries that were not holding a charge with new batteries as well as improving their method of recharging batteries that are swapped into stations. In Arlington we presently have all 93 stations online and regionally only one station is experiencing this problem as of 12/13/18 at 11am.

Thanks for your patience.

Paul DeMaio
Capital Bikeshare & Shared Mobility Manager
MetroBike, LLC
Contractor for Arlington County Commuter Services
Department of Environmental Services
Arlington County, VA
202-684-8126
paul@metrobike.net
CapitalBikeshare.com

[dbehrend]

I’m happy to report that we’re close to having this issue resolved.

Excellent news! Thank you, Paul, for the update.