So far a lark, I decide to monitor the Citi Bike map for stations with bikes near my office during rush hour. Here’s how it went.

4:50 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: 16 of 39 available
• 53rd and Madison: 17 of 34 available
• 47th and Park: EMPTY (oh, those bankers with their bankers’ hours)
• 51st and 6th: 30 of 50 available

5:03 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: 14 of 39 available
• 53rd and Madison: 14 of 34 available
• 47th and Park: 5 of 48 available
• 51st and 6th: 23 of 50 available

5:15 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: 5 of 39 available
• 53rd and Madison: 7 of 34 available
• 47th and Park: 27 of 48 available (looks like the rebalancers are doing their thing)
• 51st and 6th: 16 of 50 available

5:26 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: EMPTY
• 53rd and Madison: 2 of 34 available
• 47th and Park: 19 of 48 available
• 51st and 6th: 11 of 50 available

5:45 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: EMPTY
• 53rd and Madison: EMPTY
• 47th and Park: 9 of 53 available (not sure how they added five new docks, those rebalancers are better than I thought)
• 51st and 6th: EMPTY

Okay, so now I’m thinking we’re not even at the close of business for most companies, and hundreds of Citi Bike riders about to get off work are going to have to duke it out for fewer bikes than you can count on two hands.

5:55 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: EMPTY
• 53rd and Madison: EMPTY
• 47th and Park: 8 of 53 available
• 51st and 6th: EMPTY

6:00 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: EMPTY
• 53rd and Madison: EMPTY
• 47th and Park: EMPTY
• 51st and 6th: EMPTY

And so at quitting time there are NO Citi Bikes within a 5-block walk of my office. From the map it looks like the nearest station with more than 2 bikes available to the north is Central Park South, to the east is 2nd Ave, to the west is 9th Ave, and going south is 42nd Ave (and that dock is quickly losing bikes, the next dock south is ).

Where are the bike re-balancers?

6:07 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: EMPTY
• 53rd and Madison: EMPTY
• 47th and Park: EMPTY
• 51st and 6th: EMPTY

Something else that’s kind of odd–while stations around Penn Station and Port Authority are filling up, the stations around Grand Central Terminal are less than half full. Is this a case of people who work on the east side and who live in Connecticut and Westchester County being too rich to use Citi Bikes?

 6:14 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: EMPTY
• 53rd and Madison: EMPTY
• 47th and Park: EMPTY
• 51st and 6th: EMPTY

This is the time that I *wanted* to leave the office, but I felt handcuffed because I was committed to riding a bike today. I hate you Citi Bike. I hate you with the fire of ten thousand burning suns.

 6:25PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: 1 of 39 available.
• 53rd and Madison: EMPTY
• 47th and Park: EMPTY
• 51st and 6th: EMPTY

Looks like someone actually returned a bike to 52nd and 5th, so one lucky person will get one (it’ll be gone by the time I run out of the office, up two blocks, and over one block).

6;30 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: EMPTY (told ya)
• 53rd and Madison: EMPTY
• 47th and Park: EMPTY
• 51st and 6th: EMPTY

So now I have two options. Be stubborn and wait until some random person returns a bike at one of these empty bike stations, walk like a zombie from one empty bike station to another, or give up on Citi Bike for yet another afternoon commute.

6:40 PM

• 49th and 5th: Still out of service
• 52nd and 5th: EMPTY
• 53rd and Madison: EMPTY
• 47th and Park: EMPTY
• 51st and 6th: EMPTY

What I love is that the way Citi Bike is set up, it rewards those who leave work early and punishes those who leave late.

Anyway, around 7:05 PM–an hour after I WANTED to leave work–I ended up seeing that all of a sudden, there were a bunch of bikes at 51st and 6th. It was two avenues and one block away, but still not horrible. So I started walking.

Sure enough, it looks like a rebalancer finally made his way to at least one of the bike stations. I panicked as I stood at the light to cross 6th because I saw a woman taking what I thought was the last bike, but it turns out there were a bunch still available.

I grabbed a bike, rode west to 9th, and down to Penn Station. The ride was only 12 minutes and 36 seconds, so I made it in time for the 7:27 PM train.

So I got home an hour later than I would have liked, but at least I got home before dark.

Cost per ride: 95/14=$6.79 (again, only considering today “half” a ride”)
Aggravation level: 7 of 10
Stress level: 5 of 10