Originally Posted by
dendawg
The longest commute rides I used to do on a citibke were 6 mile 40 minute rides within manhattan. It was actually shorter than the walk to and from the subway + time on the trains with transfers between lines. My return home after a 14 hour day was usually by taxi if I could find one and cost around $34 with tip. If there were electic assist citbikes back then I would have gladly taken one instead of the cab and save a ton of cash. Fatique after a long day discouraged me from riding the six miles back.
As a matter of personal convenience, sure.
But as a matter of public policy, we're already paying for the expense and energy to run that late train. It makes no sense to stock e-bike batteries into a dock to support a need that's already filled in a more efficient manner with the train.
If you want personal convenience, paying the higher fee is perhaps in reason. But there doesn't seem to be any policy reason to *encourage* people to take late night e-bike rides unless they help with rebalancing. My guess though is that unless your commute was in an atypical direction (which would by detrimental to balancing) by the time you go there the e-bikes would all be gone anyway.