Re: Electric bicycles in the news

On Sun, 27 Apr 2025 15:11:35 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

On 4/27/2025 2:03 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Sun, 27 Apr 2025 13:47:18 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
 

https://nypost.com/2025/04/26/us-news/gunmen-on-citi-bikes-shoot-two-in-nyc-overnight/

 
Citi Bikes have GPS trackers.  The police should be able to identify
the shooter from the credit card used to pay for the bike rental.
 

>
As I understand it, the currently preferred NYC method is to
remove and swap the square-block optical code stickers.
>
Thief stands astride one bike until, a few feet away, random
customer scans the other bike.  Thief rides away before
customer gets a clue.
>
I assume there are other methods because rental e-bikes used
by criminals is not rare.

The problems were with the Gen 1 stick on labels:

In Aug 2021, we had:
"Scam uses swapped stickers to steal ride-share bicycles:"
<https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-nyc-state-wire-34d4ecd5dcd3821ddd6e9a308834a16b>

At some unknown year, the QR code was (laser?) printed on the Gen 2
display:
<https://www.reddit.com/r/NYCbike/comments/14vcwmp/2nd_gen_citibike_ebikes_have_the_bike_id_on/>
The serial number is also on the stem.

Probably in frustration, the free ride thieves have resorted to
defacing the code, which doesn't give them a free ride, but does force
the customer to type in the bicycle serial number on the app.  Of
course, they could deface all the places where the serial number might
appear, but that still doesn't give them a free ride.

"Why Are Citi Bike’s Electric Bikes Always Broken?"  (July, 2023)
<https://www.curbed.com/2023/07/citi-bikes-electric-bikes-lyft-broken-maintenance-batteries.html>
"The QR code issues have also been halved, a spokesperson said, with
measures like displaying the bike number on the console, which allows
people to manually take out bikes on the app."


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Jeff Liebermann                 jeffl@cruzio.com
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