Behind the scenes with the vans and, yes, tricycles that make bike-shares ride smoothly

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It’s all about the fleet behind the fleet.

Bike-share programs have swept into cities across the globe. They let people open an app and ride away on a bike, paying as they go. The problem? Those bikes require a lot of TLC. 

So behind the scenes, companies send teams in trucks, vans, and even tricycles to repair, maintain, and “rebalance” bikes, an industry term for making sure bicycles aren’t all clumped together or placed too far away from potential riders. That’s where software tracking each bike’s location and user behavior comes in. 

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