SEIZING THE DAY
Program uses technology to return stolen bikes to their rightful owners and has helped to cut down bike thefts by 30 per cent.
When Gaelan Connell’s road bike was stolen, he was really upset. He felt as if he’d lost a piece of himself.
It was a bike he’d had for 10 years: a blue LeMond worth about $1,000.
It was stolen in January from the combination laundry and bike room of his apartment building near Granville and Broadway.
“I thought I’d call (the Vancouver Police Department) and make a claim,” he said. “Who knows? Maybe they’ll find it.”
He had forgotten that he’d already registered the bike with Project 529, the VPD bike registration and recovery program. He’d taken advantage of one of their community events by the Burrard Bridge.
“A few days later, (the VPD) called me. They said: ‘We found your bike.’ I said ‘what?’ ”
Connell said police had seen and noted someone riding the bike in the Downtown Eastside. Police were able to track the bike to Coquitlam and then drop it off to the clinic where he works as a chiropractor in New Westminster.
“I got the bike back within a week because they had all this information online,” Connell said.
“It was … unreal. It was beyond belief.”
Connell’s bike is one of 150 that have been returned to their owners through the VPD since the program began two years ago. Another 100 have been returned directly to owners through methods that include Craigslist and using the Project 529 app.
It takes about five minutes to register your bike online at Project529. com. In the U.S., it is known as 529 Garage.
Const. Rob Brunt, who is in charge of the program for the VPD, said that initial goal was to have 10,000 bikes registered in three years.
“I didn’t think we’d be able to do that,” Brunt said.
At one of the first registration events, Brunt remembers seeing a half-block lineup of people with bikes at Union and Gore. Within five days, 1,200 people had registered; within six months, Project 529 had reached its goal of 10,000.
Now the program is approaching 22,000 registered bikes in Vancouver, 60,000 in Metro Vancouver, and about 100,000 in 26 police departments throughout B.C.
“In 2016, bike thefts were down 20 per cent,” Brunt said. “Now we’re down over 30 per cent on the second year anniversary.”
Before working on recovering stolen bikes, Brunt walked the beat and worked on the bicycle squad for 25 years. Over the years, he estimated he had seized as many as 1,000 bikes that he believed were stolen. He incorrectly assumed that they would be returned to their owner.
Several years ago, while working light duties because of an injury he received in a vehicle collision, Brunt saw 500 stolen bikes being warehoused in the VPD’s new property office.
He was told that all bicycles, even those worth up to $15,000, go to auction within 90 days, no matter what. He thought that didn’t make sense when a Honda Accord worth $500 would be returned to its owner.
So Brunt started researching digital bike registration and return programs. He discovered that San Francisco Police Department had created SafeBike.org, a non-profit organization. He was given approval to use their system when he got a call from San Francisco telling him about J. Allard and an app called 529 Garage.
Allard created the app because his expensive Santa Cruz bike was stolen in Seattle. Brunt didn’t know it at the time, but Allard was one of the creators of Xbox for Microsoft, and his app was far more sophisticated than anything he had imagined.
As a result, Vancouver became the first municipality in Canada or the U.S. to adopt the program.
Brunt said his next goal is to expand the program throughout all B.C. and make it self-sufficient; he estimates that would cost about $600,000 a year.
Kim Konnert, director of communications for HUB Cycling, a Metro Vancouver bicycle advocacy group, said Project 529 is among several initiatives to reduce bike thefts that include bike valets to provide secure bike parking at public events, and better bike parkades for employees in new buildings.
“I think the amazing thing about Project 529 is that police do recover stolen bikes but often aren’t able to connect stolen bikes to owners,” she said.
Project 529 uses technology to allow bike owners to communicate with police, and with other bike owners. She agreed that the next step would be to have all police departments in B.C. working together to combat bike theft.
“The fact that police are working with the community of cyclists shows that we give biking more importance in our community,” Konnert said. “I think there is a change happening in how we view cycling as a transportation option.”