A few weeks ago, when councillor Buck Buchanan suggested Red Deer explore setting up a bicycle registry, I took some old advice and recorded descriptions and serial numbers of our family’s bikes. If you haven’t done so yourself, you should, right now.
Currently, at no small cost to taxpayers, a storage area containing hundreds of lost and stolen bikes which have little or no hope of being returned to their owners are auctioned off. Most are no longer in good riding condition, but they are auctioned (often at a price exceeding their value, because they need a paid mechanic’s attention). It’s a system in which nobody gains.
A Google search informs that Alberta has no free-standing municipal bike registry. Saskatoon has one, and it would be interesting to discover its cost, and whether significant numbers of stolen bikes actually find their owners through the program.Edmonton and Grande Prairie have registries in partnership with local organizations, which I believe is a better way to achieve the goals: building community, educating cyclists and getting stolen bikes returned.
I volunteer with Red Deer Association for Bicycle Commuting, and we would be interested in talking with city council to create such a partnership. I also volunteer with the Optimist Bike for Kids program. This year, Optimist volunteers began recording serial numbers of the 200-plus bikes we repair and donate to families.
Building a database should be easy — just copy and paste from existing successful programs. But allow a city non-profit to participate. It would need to be voluntary, where owners access the registry. We could provide stickers for the bikes, warning would-be thieves, that both police and the city can track the real owner. With funding, we might even provide less-costly but good quality locks.
But pure municipal registry and licencing programs have been tried and have failed under the combined weight of costs and lack of enforceability.
Greg Neiman, Red Deer