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CHALLENGE
Diagnosing a Bikeshare Failure in Red Hook
In summer 2024, Citi Bike was fielding complaints about Red Hook from riders, local elected officials, and internal and external stakeholders. Pressure was building to act before the next riding season. I was given hourly dock status and daily ridership for Red Hook's 17 stations, May through October 2024, and asked to diagnose the cause and build an action plan for summer 2025. This was a critial time for Citi Bike as the DOT contract governing the system comes up for renewal in a few years
Client
Case Study for Citi Bike
Location
New York City, NY
Year
2026
I ran three rounds of analysis, including geo-spatial and quantitative data analysis, identified potential causes for failure, and proposed a plan built from solutions Citi Bike operates elsewhere in the system for minimal friction
THEMES
Mobility · Data-Informed Strategy · Service Design · Impact Assessment · Policy Advisory
HIGHLIGHTS
01
Neighborhood Context Analysis
I built a dashboard that mapped Citi Bike stations, local foot traffic drivers, low income housing,and transit stops. This geo-spatial analysis was combined with Citi bike service data for a more holistic approach to problem solving. Desktop research also revealed local tensions since the 2016 project roll out, along with financial troubles of the parent company Lyft in 2014 that had likely led to reduced quality in service delivery
02
Data Analysis & Key Insights
The data analysis revealed key insights about Red Hook's bikeshare inflow and Citibike's rebalancing efforts such as: > The neighborhood took in more bikes than it sent out > Both the volume and timing of rebalancing could be improved > Increased rebalancing in October showed signs of success > E-bike scarcity was a potential compounding factor
03
Recommendations
I researched Citi Bike's bikeshare operations and developed a four-part plan built from solutions Citi Bike operates elsewhere in the system. The big moves included a dedicated weekend truck service Friday through Sunday pulling classic bikes first and a small valet team at the three busiest Van Brunt Street stations to absorb peak demand. I also proposed more strategic, long term options such as adding or replacing with higher density docks
After an initial round of manual data analysis, I directed Claude the way I would a junior team member, reviewing its output at each step during deeper analysis and production
STAKEHOLDERS
Citi Bike Operations
Say hello. Let's make magic ↗
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