How well does the city bicycles all over Buenos Aires with Ecobici work? Availability, issues?

[Bharat]

When I was in Buenos Aires last month I saw a lot of bicycles around the city with Ecobici -

Tembici – Disfrutá de la Ciudad en bicicleta

baecobici.com.ar

I didn't try to use it but I use the one in Mexico City all the time and it works really well.

https://ecobici.cdmx.gob.mx/en/

How available are the bikes? Can I access it as a non-resident foreigner? Is it reliable and the App work well? Is the coverage very good with good drop off locations, etc? Can one reasonably get around with them? I saw many bike lanes as well which was nice but traffic looks chaotic so not sure how safe it is.

 

[Bobbie Burgers]

Oh, it's a flawless system, except for the tiny detail that the bicycles are like relics from the ancient times, and I got banned because their genius system accused me of not returning a bike that I totally returned. (I did return it and verified it but their system must be bad). I had to fight them for it and had to dispute my credit card charge.

Oh, and don't forget, you have to enter a DNI # or brace yourself for those "tourist rates," which, by the way, are more expensive than a first-class ticket to the moon.

So, yeah, maybe consider investing in your very own bike? Just a thought.

 

[Vero]

Oh, it's a flawless system, except for the tiny detail that the bicycles are like relics from the ancient times, and I got banned because their genius system accused me of not returning a bike that I totally returned. (I did return it and verified it but their system must be bad). I had to fight them for it and had to dispute my credit card charge.

Oh, and don't forget, you have to enter a DNI # or brace yourself for those "tourist rates," which, by the way, are more expensive than a first-class ticket to the moon.

So, yeah, maybe consider investing in your very own bike? Just a thought.

That is horrible @Bobbie Burgers about the system not working to show you returned the bike. I use it all the time and haven't had issues. I have a DNI and wasn't sure what the tourist price is but I see tourists using them all the time in Palermo. I use it to go to work and come home and I always find some available. Sometimes I do have to go a few extra blocks to find one.

 

[Vince]

I'm in NYC now visiting my folks and my nephew told me he uses NYC's version all the time:

Citi Bike: NYC’s Official Bike Sharing System | Citi Bike NYC

Experience the best way to get around Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Hoboken & Jersey City with Citi Bike, New York’s bike share system.

citibikenyc.com

Looks really good and not expensive. He said he pays about $200 US for the entire year. So that seems great. He uses them daily. I never used it in BA as I heard a horror story from my friend. The bike he used was really old and the chain broke and he didn't want to get charged so he had to hand walk it really far. After that I didn't want to try it. Plus traffic is crazy in BA.