The Hustlers Who Make $6,000 a Month by Gaming Citi Bikes
The New York Times
The bike-sharing program rewards users who help redistribute bikes around New York City. A few riders have figured out how to turn that into profit.
It was the perfect New York hustle, a scam of subtle perfection. And for three years, it helped Mark Epperson pay his rent.
The hustle, in its simplest form: Borrow a Citi Bike. Ride it one block. Wait 15 minutes, then ride it back.
Earn $6,000 a month (under ideal conditions, and with lots of work).
“This is one of my side hustles,” said Mr. Epperson, an actor who lives on the Upper West Side and works as an understudy in “Perfect Crime,” an Off Broadway play. “I’m probably a vulture in some people’s eyes. And I guess that’s fair.”
If Mr. Epperson’s insight into the scheme is simple, the circumstances surrounding it are anything but. Citi Bike, a bike-sharing program operated by Lyft that offers 27,000 bikes throughout New York City, Hoboken and Jersey City, promises seamless pickup and drop-off. Occasionally, though, a ride to work ends with the rider’s discovery that the docking station nearest the office is full. A dash to brunch is foiled by an empty dock, with no bikes available.
Both situations are annoying, especially for Citi Bike subscribers, who now pay $220 a year. To fix the imbalance, Citi Bike uses various tactics to move bikes to in-demand stations. One involves hiring workers to drive panel trucks around the city, delivering bikes where they’re needed.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
With little post-pandemic recovery, experts wonder if screen time and school absence are among the causes.
State Senator Zellnor Myrie, who was once pepper sprayed by the police, released a plan to hire 3,000 additional police officers.
Caroline Kennedy stepped out of the shadows and onto social media to assail her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on the eve of his Senate hearing.
Lorne Michaels reportedly dislikes when “Saturday Night Live” cast members break character. But over 50 seasons, it’s become one of the show’s signature moves — one that usually delights the audience.
Gov. Josh Green battled a measles outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly children. President Trump wants Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vaccine skeptic, as his health policy chief.
The Trump administration sought to pause federal dollars to some grantees as it tries to uproot policies like diversity, equity and inclusion. Schools and universities worried important programs could be halted.
Jeal Sutherland, of Colonie, N.Y., hatched a deadly scheme with a convicted killer who was an F.B.I. informer, court documents say.
The former Trump adviser, who faces trial in March, said that he was singled out for his politics. He took aim at the district attorney in much the way the president has.
These parents believe in home-schooling and distrust food and drug companies. In Kennedy, they see “a bull in the china shop.”
The city laid out a series of proposals to reduce cancer deaths by 20 percent, and deaths from heart- and diabetes-related ailments by 5 percent, over the next five years.
In a special session on Monday, leaders seemed to be declaring their independence from a governor who has wielded so much power that legislative sessions have become largely predictable rubber stamps.
There were no Situation Room meetings and no quiet calls to de-escalate a dispute with an ally. Just threats, counterthreats, surrender and an indication of the president’s approach to Greenland and Panama.
A special session that began on Monday pairs disaster aid with two priorities for both the president and Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee: tougher immigration laws and school vouchers.
Thomas J. Mascia scattered casings around and then shot himself in the leg in a bid for attention, prosecutors said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, an unabashed fan of the Buffalo Bills, was perhaps never more popular than on Sunday in downtown Albany.
The 14th Amendment overturned the 1857 decision that denied citizenship to Black people. Scholars say President Trump’s proposal betrays that history.
The bishop asked President Trump publicly to “have mercy,” electrifying some liberal churchgoers in an era dominated by conservative versions of Christianity.
Even more than in his first term, President Trump has mounted a fundamental challenge to the norms and expectations of what a president can and should do.