Victoria says bike theft numbers are lowest since 2011

Last year, the City of Victoria declared itself the cycling capital of Canada, nearly 25 years after Queen Elizabeth did. In June 2001, it was the 7K cyclists that rode their bikes to work, as well as Victoria’s “urban and wilderness trails and dedicated cycling corridors,” that inspired the monarch and the attorney general to declare it so in an official proclamation.

By 2022, 21K people were commuting to work, according to the CRD’s Destination Household Travel Survey. With expanded bike use, came expanded bike theft. For the cyclist, there is nothing worse than coming back to the spot where they parked their bike only to find it gone.

In past years, Victoria had a reputation for the proliferation of bike thievery. Capital Daily reported on the trend in 2022. A Facebook group called Stolen Bicycle Avengers started up that year and by 2024 had 8,777 members.

In 2023, the Times Colonist reported that resident cycling enthusiast Jamie Wellbourn had been mapping the locations of self-reported bike thefts in Greater Victoria over nearly two months. He collected the data for his map from the Facebook group’s reported bike thefts.

Of the 35 bike thefts that were reported by group members between the beginning of October and Nov. 20, 2023 (less than a two-month period), Wellbourn found that the majority were not taking place on the streets downtown but in condo buildings and residential neighbourhoods outside of the core. He found many of the thefts were happening in the Cook St Village.

This week, the City of Victoria is reporting that bike use is up, and bike thefts are significantly down. In a Feb. 6 release, the city said the 277 bikes that were reported stolen in 2024, representing the lowest number of thefts in the municipality since 2011. The number, it says, is 28% lower than the number of bike thefts in 2022. When asked for the source of this data, the city was unable to provide it.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand in outdoor and cycling gear paired with labour and supply chain disruptions caused the price of bicycles to go up by as much as 400%, according to the Outdoor Journal. They haven’t come down since. Alexis Webb at Oak Bay Cycle told Capital Daily he’s seeing a lot more gravel and e-bikes going out the door. “They are a huge percentage of any bike store’s business right now,” he said.

Lower-end e-bikes cost between $1,500 and $3,500. High-quality mid-drive e-bikes, where the motor is part of the pedalling mechanism, go for as much as $6K. “It's all about protecting your investment,” Webb said.

To combat bike theft, the city allocated $500K to improving bike parking security and in 2022, piloted the Downtown Victoria Bike Valet on Pandora. In its first season, volunteer valets parked 83 bikes per day, the city said. Last year, the parking valet was open year-round and saw an average of 202 bikes per day.

Webb thinks the initiative works. “If you're going downtown, even if you're going to have to walk a couple blocks, do the bike valet. I think the bike valet is doing a fantastic job of keeping down bike theft,” he said.

To further prevent bike theft, the city launched Borrow a Bike Lock, a program established in 2013 that makes high-quality locks available at several retail and school locations across the city. The combined efforts seem to be paying off.

“We’re thrilled to see that our efforts to reduce bike thefts are making a difference,” said Mayor Marianne Alto. “When people feel safe leaving their bikes while they shop, dine, or do business, it contributes to a more vibrant downtown and improves our sense of community.”

Beyond city efforts, individual riders can do more to reduce their risk of bike theft.

Go By Bike BC has theft prevention tips on its website that include using multiple high-quality locks, removing quick-release options on seats and tires and replacing them with bolts, and ensuring that bikes are locked to securely grounded objects, rather than fencing or signage poles.

Those tips will come in handy during the CRD’s Winter Go By Bike Week event which begins Feb. 8 and cycles to Feb. 12.

Riders can register their bike for free with Project Garage 529 BC. Project Garage 529 is a registration system co-founded in the US by J Allard—also the co-founder of Xbox—and Lara Ferroni, based on a free app that allows owners to upload pictures of their bikes and notify others if their bike is stolen.

Staff at the bike valet will help customers register their bikes on Garage 529 and free registration is also available at many local bike shops in the city.

The Victoria Police Department has used Project 529 to help owners identify their stolen bikes and get them returned. VicPD said more than 14K bikes have been registered on the system by owners in Victoria since 2020. So far, 150 stolen bikes have been recovered through the program.

“We want people to be comfortable biking anywhere in Victoria,” said Ross Kenny, the city’s assistant director of transportation. “That means having secure, convenient bike parking options at your destination in addition to high-quality bike routes to get you there. As we’ve built out our cycling network, we’ve also been investing in services, infrastructure, and programs to reduce bike theft.”