Mayor pushes for improved bike registry to curb theft

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This article was published 09/06/2023 (892 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new, free-to-use bike registry could be rolling into Winnipeg, amid concerns bike theft is posing a key deterrent to cycling.

Mayor Scott Gillingham believes it’s time for a new bike registry, without the $7.35 fee to record a serial number on Winnipeg’s current online option.

“Many, many bikes are not registered. What I’m proposing is what a lot of other cities are doing, providing free bike registry,” said Gillingham.

The mayor plans to raise a motion at Monday’s executive policy committee meeting to order a staff report on overhauling the registry. He said a replacement could use an app, such as Bike Index or 529 Garage, that can easily share information between jurisdictions.

“If a bike… was stolen in Winnipeg and showed up in Calgary, they can share this data,” he said.

If council approves, Gillingham hopes the new system would make cyclists more confident they’ll be able to keep their bikes safe.

“There’s too much bike theft in the city of Winnipeg and there’s too much theft that goes unreported… individuals that had their bikes stolen just maybe feel there’s no hope,” said Gillingham.

As many as 2,000 bikes are reported stolen each year, with about 1,000 recovered and less than 10 per cent successfully returned to their owners under the current registration system, said a news release from the mayor’s office.

The mayor stopped short of calling for mandatory bike registration, arguing that would be too difficult to enforce.

Gillingham announced his call to explore a new registry, which he said would be done in consultation with Bike Winnipeg, the WRENCH and Winnipeg Police Service, shortly after concerns were aired about bike theft at Friday’s Winnipeg Police Board meeting.

Charles Feaver, chair of the working committee on bike theft for Bike Winnipeg, told the board the frequency of theft is a key reason people don’t use their bikes more often, second only to road safety concerns.

“The No. 2 reason is ‘I don’t feel it’s safe to leave my bike (just) anywhere in the city,’” Feaver told reporters.

The avid cyclist noted he’s had four or five of his bikes stolen over 40 years of frequent riding.

During a presentation to the police board, Feaver called on police to partner with Bike Winnipeg and other groups to determine the best solutions, which he suggested could focus on improving bike registration, bike recovery and theft prevention efforts.

Without key changes, the concerns around theft will make it difficult for Winnipeg to meet a goal to combat climate change by enticing more people to use active transportation, said Feaver.

“This will not be achieved if people are worried that their bike will be stolen while they are working, shopping or going to school,” he told the police board.

He said data from the city’s current bike registry doesn’t appear to be shared easily with police or the public. Winnipeg Police Service confirmed officers don’t have immediate access to the bike registry and sometimes need to email a request to the City of Winnipeg to find the owner of a stolen bike.

Winnipeg police data shows there were 2,049 bike thefts reported to police in 2018, followed by 1,823 in 2019, 1,471 in 2020, 1,555 in 2021 and 1,665 in 2022.

However, police Chief Danny Smyth said he agrees with the mayor and bike advocates that the data on bike thefts may be skewed by underreporting.

“(For) a lot of property crime that’s on the lower end of the (price) spectrum, I don’t think people necessarily take the time to report it … there’s evidence of people talking about theft of their own property (in chat groups) but also making it clear they never reported it (to police),” said Smyth.

The chief said he’s open to the idea of exploring a partnership between cycling advocates and the service’s property crime unit.

“It’s a no-brainer to work with any group that wants to address that,” said Smyth.

A bike registry report would be expected in about four months.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga