Edmonton cyclists and police tout success of city's bike registration program
CBC
Cyclists and the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) are touting the success of a bike registration program introduced to the city three years ago.
The program, run by an American non-profit called Bike Index, is an online database of bicycles that encompasses almost the entirety of Canada and the United States.
Since the program began in July 2019, 657 lost or stolen bikes have been returned to their rightful owners and just shy of 100,000 Edmontonians have registered their bicycles, according to EPS.
Coreen Shewfelt, a workshop manager with Bike Edmonton, said that most cyclists in Edmonton have been affected by bike thefts, either by having experienced it themselves or knowing somebody who had their bike stolen.
She said some people in Edmonton would like to use their bikes more often, but for some of them bike thefts pose a barrier.
Before the partnership launched, an average of 50 to 100 bicycles were recovered and returned to their owners each year, EPS spokesperson Landis Reichle said in an email.
The registration begins when an owner lists the serial number, make, model and colour of their bike in the online database. They can also add a photo and any other information that could make their ride easier to identify if it is lost or stolen.
The owner may also request a sticker with a QR code to put on their bike.
Using the online database is easy, said Bryan Hance, the co-founder of Bike Index.
"There is nothing to install. There is no app. You just pick up the phone [and] you can use it immediately," he said.
It takes less than five minutes to learn how the system works, Hance said.
If someone's bike is stolen, law enforcement will know what it looks like and that it belongs to a person who reported the theft.
The registration system works well, said Const. Kenny McKinnon.
When the program first began, EPS had a stockpile of unclaimed abandoned or stolen bikes that the officers called "the bike graveyard," McKinnon said.
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