Rider Assist
How it works
Not an emergency service.For crashes, injuries, fire, or immediate danger, call 911 first. Everything below assumes you're safe and stuck.
When you ask for help
Step 1
You describe the problem
Pick the issue, share your location, and add anything that helps — your bike, a landmark, whether you're safely off the road, a photo. Only the issue and your location are required; everything else is yours to withhold.
Step 2
Nearby riders are notified
Up to 12 riders are alerted. They're chosen by whether their listed capabilities match your problem, how close they are, and how reliably they've turned up before. Riders who've marked themselves off-shift for the moment aren't pulled in.
Step 3
The search widens if it needs to
It starts at 10 miles and steps out to 25, then 50 — on its own as time passes, or immediately if you press expand. A wider search means a longer ride for whoever answers.
Step 4
You choose who helps
A rider offering to help isn't a rider on the way. Nobody is dispatched to you: you see who they are, what they ride and what they can do, and the request is theirs only once it's accepted.
Step 5
You track and talk
Once someone's accepted you get their ETA, a message thread, and their live position if they've chosen to share it. You can cancel at any point, for any reason, without explaining yourself.
Step 6
You close it out
Mark it resolved and leave feedback. That feedback is what the ranking above is built from, so it's the part that keeps the whole thing honest.
What riders can see
Broadcasting your exact position to a dozen strangers is the obvious way to build this and the wrong one. It works in two stages instead.
- Before anyone accepts
- Riders see the problem, a rough distance — "about 4.2 miles away" — and nothing that identifies where you are. Not your address, not a pin, not the map.
- After you accept someone
- The rider who's coming gets your location and the details you filled in. Nobody else does, and the riders who didn't get it lose their view entirely.
- Your phone number
- Shared only if you add one, and only with the rider who accepted. Leave it out and the message thread is the whole channel.
- Live location
- Off unless you switch it on, both directions. A helper sharing their position with you is their choice, and yours is yours.
If you want to help
Helping is opt-in and always off until you turn it on. In your Rider Assist settings you set how far you're willing to ride, the hours you're actually available, and which of these you can genuinely do:
- Jump starts
- Battery help
- Tire plug / inflation
- Fuel delivery
- Basic mechanical
- Electrical diagnosis
- Trailer / towing
- Transportation
- Tools
- General roadside help
You're only notified for problems you've said you can solve, inside your radius, during your hours. Declining costs you nothing and isn't recorded against you.
Ground rules
- Only claim capabilities you actually have and actually carry.
- Don't accept a request you can't reach in the time you quoted.
- Ride to it like any other ride. A stranded rider is not worth a crash.
- No charging for help. Reimbursement for fuel or parts is between the two of you.
- Repairs are at your own risk, on both sides. Nobody here is a certified mechanic by default.
- If a situation feels wrong when you arrive, leave. Then report it.
What this isn't
- An emergency service. Crashes, injuries, fire, or immediate danger mean 911, every time.
- A tow company. Some riders have trailers; most don't, and none are obligated.
- A guarantee. Nobody is on call. If no one's nearby or free, nobody comes.
- A repair shop. Expect enough to get you moving or get you home, not a fix.
- Insured or licensed. This is neighbors with tools, and it's worth being clear about that.
Requests don't linger
An unanswered request closes itself after 2 hours, and you can only have one open at a time. Nobody should be sitting on a roadside watching a request nobody is coming to.
If something goes wrong
Every request carries a report link, for either side. Reports go to D76 admins, who can suspend a member from Rider Assist entirely. Use it — a rule nobody enforces isn't a rule.