Citi Bike's Better Angels

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The Indicator from Planet Money Citi Bike's Better Angels Citi Bike's Better Angels Listen · 9:47 9:47

Bike-share companies have a problem: how to make sure that there are always enough bikes at their stations for people to use. Some companies truck bikes back and forth across the city, others pay valets or use pedicabs. In New York, Citi Bike decided to use competition. It created a game, in which so-called "Bike Angels" pedal bikes to open stations around the city for points and prizes. Today on The Indicator, how the company used ideas from behavioral economics to solve one of its most thorny problems.

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