Overall, I have been truly enjoying my Citibike membership. It's perfect for a trip across town, especially if it's not too hot out — if it's really hot and you need to be somewhere where you need to look your best (like a first date or something), it's sometimes better to walk to avoid showing up looking like a huge sweatball. Which brings me to last night. With about 15 minutes to make it to the West Village and a cool evening breeze blowing, Citibike would seem to be an ideal transportation mode. It was — it got me to Perry and Bleecker in good time with barely a schvitz. This would've been great except for the tiny fact that the rack at that spot was completely full. I then biked over to Christopher and Hudson — full. At that point, I had to pull out my phone and find another kiosk — Bank and Hudson. I biked up to it, down the (stupidly uncomfortable) cobblestone street to find one free slot at the kiosk. Hooray! I was still in the safe 5-10 minute late range, and a tad schvitzier than I would like, but good to go. Until the bike wouldn't dock properly. The green light wouldn't go on, no matter what I tried. I was not about to keep biking farther from my destination at that point, so I called Citibike customer service. After a bit of time on hold, the rep took all of my information (key number, rack location, bike number) and she let me leave it where it was. I strode in to the restaurant about 15 – 20 minutes late, sweaty, and pissed off. At the very least, I had a good icebreaker story to start off the evening.
Transportation Aggravation
Overall, I have been truly enjoying my Citibike membership. It's perfect for a trip across town, especially if it's not too hot out — if it's really hot and you…