r/BluebikesBoston

Help! Every E-bike I use seems to do next to nothing. They seem to be on but not doing much more than offsetting the bike. This seems to happen with every bike I unlock, even when they have charge. I put one back today because of it and someone else took it out and it seemed fine. What is happnening?

Hey all,

I’ve been a member with Bluebikes for a year. Seems like in March Lyft updated the app and now only people with >ios17 can use the Bluebikes app. My phone is pretty old, so I can no longer use the app.

The issue is I’m a member, so I still want to use Bluebikes. I paid for my membership through my company’s wellness stipend, so it’s not attached to my credit cards. Is there anyway I can still use Bluebikes with my membership? I’ve tried unlocking at the terminal, but my membership email doesnt seem to do the trick and I just have to pay for each bike as if I don’t have a membership.

Has anyone else had an issue with the switch to needing >ios17?

Thanks for all the help!

One of the most frustrating parts of using the system is getting to your destination only to find the station totally full with zero empty docks available. Then the app just casually tells you to bike to the “next nearest station” — except sometimes THAT station is full too.

And there’s no way in the app to report that the station is effectively unusable in real time.

What makes it worse is that station density in some areas feels way too sparse. When docks are full, the next option can be surprisingly far away, especially if you’re already tired, late, carrying bags, or trying to get somewhere quickly.

A bike share system only works if returning the bike is reliable. Right now it feels like riders are absorbing the operational failures instead of the system adapting dynamically to demand.

Curious if other people deal with this regularly or if I’ve just been unlucky.

Since yesterday, both my partner and I have not been able to reserve or unlock a bluebike. The app just stays on the loading spinner on the button until it eventually times out.

We’ve tried literally everything. Different accounts, deleting and reinstalling, different bikes, different station, rebooting the phone you name it.

Had to walk a pretty long way since my initial route back home couldn’t be done with a blue bike. Anyone else experiencing this??? I’m seeing nothing from blue bikes on an active issue.

The fastest way to get to work is the blue bike. All of my bags are too big for the rack to securely attach the strap. Sometimes it works on the vertical ones for never on the horizontal trays, which is most of them. So I’m looking for a new bag that I could securely put my pc, charger, notebook, badge in with the strap and get to work.

My PC is large IMO, currently 14x10 inches, but that can change.