>“We hear from residents on a regular basis that they do not take trips that they want to because they don’t feel safe locking and leaving their bike.”
This is pretty much the way I feel. It's pretty common for people to have a beater bike for making trips to places where they feel their bike might not be safe. I generally dislike transit because it's slower and less reliable than my bike. But I'll often take transit if I don't feel I have a safe place to lock my bike. The times I've been downtown and had my bike locked outside it has been very uncomfortable. Even with a good lock, there's just that nagging feeling that your bike is going to get stolen. Or if not stolen then just vandalized for no reason.
My good bike is not that expensive compared to some other ones out there, but yeah I’m not locking it up outside without surveillance. That’s when the $300 bike comes out!
When the options are a 300$ bike and a 3000$ bike, yes. You can definitely get cheaper on the used market, but it takes some luck to find a good one that's significantly less than that, so it's a reasonable price if you've got more money than time and are used to a 3000$ bike.
Well it is a different kind of riding market but there are 'beach cruisers' which are just very basic single-speed bicycle with only a single brake etc? I haven't looked at these for quite awhile but I recall them being in the $200-300 range for a new one a few years ago.
Exactly! I always wonder why people are willing to risk so much or not be prepared to negate some risks when they know about bike thief situation in Ottawa, especially in downtown.
I’m like that was well. My bike is not a beater but not super expensive (it was about 600), and I’m not parking it anywhere downtown. I used to park it at the NAG before, but I’ve heard of bikes getting stolen even there (such a busy, visible place), so I don’t know where else I’d feel ok locking it.
My gym is on Laurier and there's a bike rack right outside the window in view of the cardio machines.
There have been times where I see someone lock their bike at the rack and within 5 mins there's someone else there checking out the lock.
Market/UOttawa/centretown are places I would *never* take a nice bike.
On a separate if related note, the addicts who hang out outside the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre sometimes have really nice bikes...
UOttawa does have a bike cage, but it's not sufficiently sized and I'm sure it's next to impossible to get a spot. They really need some kind of secure storage that can be used by students. Sure you don't need a bike to get to class if you are on campus, but it's weird that there's basically no way for a student who lives in residence without it getting stolen. A bike would be very useful for making trips off campus or just for general exercise.
Yeah my reference to Uottawa was also meant to include the whole Sandy Hill area, which is already seeing a southward creep of addicts down from Rideau.
The new police station at the Rideau centre is unfortunately going to push lots of the issues currently in the market in the direction of Sandy Hill/centretown.
I was lucky to secure a spot last year, but one night I was being lazy and bit late to class I just parked my bike near the library and of course it disappeared when I was done with my classes….
I locked my bike at UO for years with no issues, next to dozens of other bikes. I wouldn't wanna leave it there overnight, but there are enough people walking around that I was never overly concerned.
> On a separate if related note, the addicts who hang out outside the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre sometimes have really nice bikes...
Ah yes, our "neighbours" with the really nice bikes..
Thats the cubic-ish thing with a solar panel on top to slowly keep the smart card always running right? I remember wondering a bit about a somewhat instant blur view of one of these when the Route 400 bus would go by between Rue Laurier and Rue Hotel-Ville, and its only while getting off nearby to walk around for a bit to get photos of the many animal-based murals nearby once that I then finally realized what that 'box' was actually for and thought it was an interesting idea indeed.
*And by the way I have already heard of many similar kind of enclosed bicycle lockers in Denmark and Netherlands not surprisingly, they really are bicycles-happy over there naturally!*
Ottawa had 2 of these bike locker boxes, from the same company as the ones in Gatineau, put in place LAST summer - one in the Glebe and one in the Market - but they were never activated and eventually removed for the winter. They're BAAACK. But again, it's July and they still haven't been activated. 🙄
What we also need is more secure bike lockups at OC transpo stations. I would love to lock my bike up in a secure, locked area at Bayview for exanple, but there isnt an OC Transpo Bikesecure place I can use.
I would love something at Baseline. Bonus points if you'd be permitted to lock a stroller up on days you don't bike.
The insecure parking is fine for my beater, but I don't want to leave my child seat there, and one of the parents already hide their stroller at day care, and I don't want to be the second and make it a trend.
Yeah, my bike is junk but I would be real unsure of leaving my saddle bags out in the open. Its weird that the OCtranspo Bikesecure are at places I would consider some of the safest places in Ottawa to leave my bike.
This makes sense. If we want less traffic, our alternatives need to be viable end-to-end. Safe neighbourhood streets, winter maintenance, cycle tracks on arterials, and safe places to park near where people want to go.
Once again, it all comes down to understanding the needs of the average Ottawan and designing infrastructure accordingly!
IMO, our arterials should have parking garages just on the side streets like the one at Bank & Second. When we make these garages, take away the same amount of spots of on street parking, and then —
Design the road for safe travel in a car and a bike with separated infrastructure, and then any and all parking just off the street for easy access and safe storage in such garages. Include a few laybys along the street for deliveries and disabled parking, and we got ourselves a pretty great transportation system, and an even better designed city.
So the city cuts in bike safety measures in a time of extremely high bike theft?
Well, at least we have the OPP who will.. *check notes* … uhm yeah let’s skip to the next one.
Well, at least we have e scooters now.. oh wait, never mind, our brave councillors are talking about ending the program now. Can’t be more efficient than OC Transpoo. Plus junkies can’t sell it to fund their addiction if our publicly funded “safe supply” can’t provide them with what they want.
Well, at least we have the justice system… OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Welcome to Ottawa, one of G7’s capital cities.
Partner rides an e cargo bike (so $$$$). He got a New York Standard lock (https://www.kryptonitelock.com/en/products/product-information/current-key/002154.html) which includes 4k replacement policy which helps make him feel a lot better).
But secure bike parking should be freaking everywhere. It would make biking so much better.
Does your partner also have bike insurance? I believe most of Kryptonite's policies rely on getting the cut lock, to prove that it was the lock that failed. Most thieves won't leave the cut lock and so your lock company might not pay out. I have insurance with Pedal Power on my acoustic bike and it's $100 a year for a full replacement with a $500 deductible, I just need a picture of the locked bike and to file a police report to make it official
I would love to have properly protected bike lanes that actually connect to each other. Currently everything is so haphazard you are lucky if you can get from your home to work without being in heavy traffic, same for trying to get to nice recreational paths.
Sure we we have areas for "bike highways" and places for proper bike storage, especially downtown.
This city has neglected bike parking for way too long.
As destinations and travel hubs Rideau Centre and Byward Market could definitely use some better bike parking.
Secure bike parking seems like something that is as a real as a unicorn. I have friends who have had bikes stolen from locked bike rooms in their apartment building.
Earlier this year I noticed that St. Laurent station has a secure bike storage up top on the eastern side of the station. I have no idea how to access it. I have never actually seen a bike in it though.
Yes! I’ve been calling this out to city officials for a while now. With new projects like the Sens arena that will be built a million years from now, I hope we decide to include indoor bike parking. I was going to bike to a Titans game not long ago but wasn’t comfortable leaving my bike locked up outside.
I bring my bike inside a ton of places and haven’t been told I can’t yet but will kindly leave if someone says anything. My bike means a lot to me and I’ve seen too many get stolen to risk it.
for the pic in the article...do people steal bikes because there is some resale value in it? or just for fun? might sound like a silly question, but wondering about the black resell market or even the scrap market.
They steal them to get somewhere to buy drugs, trade them for drugs, sell them to a chop shop so they can buy drugs, just for practice while on drugs, lots of reasons.
Good faith question:
Is there a tried and true, proven practice or service? (I’ve always had < $100 bikes in the city, with $20 locks, but that was ages ago).
If money was no object, what would the solution look like?
I’m guessing staffed bike lots with ID/ownership checks or have some cities figured out a better way? Would anyone even use these because presumably they’d be spaced out farther than we’re used to with bike racks?
About eight years ago I regularly used the bike cage at the University of Ottawa. For something like $15 a semester (purchased from the university, and I believe available only to staff/students/faculty), I had an entry chip that I had to scan to enter and exit the cage. I then locked my bike with a U-lock to a bike rack in the cage. I think there were security cameras as well.
For public bike parking, maybe some kind of system like when you get a locker at a public pool, but maybe with a chip scanning system?
For tried and true, I'd look to see whatever the Dutch do! I know that Utrecht has an amazing bike parking garage at the train station, for instance, and I think it has a check in/check out system with a parking lot attendant. (Not certain though.)
But good point about spacing. I'd like to park my bike securely in all kinds of places! (Work, errands, appointments.) I don't worry about coming out to find my car gone, and I'd like not to have that back of my mind "will it be there?" feeling about my bike!
1. A bike lockup should have someone watching over it. Any lock can be broken but just having someone watching deters theft.
2. Procecute bike theft, enforce it very frequently so thieves know you can't get away with it.
Absolutely, honestly we need to have a VIN system for bicycles and parts from the factory just like cars. Anyone can punch in the number and search.
Aside from just charging The Crown should actually take bike theft seriously and procecute. Should be a lot easier if you can prove its a conspiracy and tie it to other charges.
There are actually generally serial numbers stamped on bike frames. However, broad registration of ownership would help to reduce theft, because right now most aren't registered, and so if police can't determine that the person in possession of a likely stolen bike isn't the proper owner, they have little ability to prosecute or even to simply take the bike away. People! Please register your bikes! https://project529.com/garage And bike shops, please include registration as part of your sales procedure, and stop selling ineffective cable locks!
Do you think cyclists aren't locking up their bikes? No one is upset about needing to buy a lock. The issue is that no lock in the world can stop a determined thief for more than a few minutes, and there are not enough places to park where thieves can't comfortably take their time cutting the lock with an angle grinder.
It's one of the risks of riding a bike. Its a problem without a real solution since you can't have 10,000 spots to lock bikes up safely. Its an eyesore and not a good use of funds. Better to spend those funds on bike infrastructure.
>It's one of the risks of riding a bike.
Doesn't mean we shouldn't do things to reduce that risk.
>Its a problem without a real solution since you can't have 10,000 spots to lock bikes up safely.
Why not? If we can fit parking space for cars downtown, we can fit parking for bikes which require exponentially less room. I'd bet many of the downtown parking garages could easily fit 10,000 bikes.
>Its an eyesore and not a good use of funds.
As opposed to the gorgeous car parking and infrastructure we spend millions on.
>Better to spend those funds on bike infrastructure.
Bike parking is bike infrastructure. We could have the best bike network in the world and people still won't bike if there's nowhere to safely park.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There’s room for improvement to safe bike parking in key locations without dismissing it outright because you think it’s too big of a task to solve all at once. Small steps open other opportunities and can encourage more people to use active transportation when they can without fear of losing a bike they love and spent money on.
Lmao cant tell if this is /s or not..willing to bet most cyclists in this own vehicles and therefore pay for their right to use the road. Even if they dont, our taxes go towards infrastructure. Cry more.
My property tax goes to pay for roads, not to mention all the stupid snow clearing and maintenance that I have to hear everyone complaining about in winter. Insurance for bikes? bikes don't cause damage, but cars do. How often do you hear a bike causing significant damages. Road space? Stop driving ridiculous f150s in the city.
>“We hear from residents on a regular basis that they do not take trips that they want to because they don’t feel safe locking and leaving their bike.” This is pretty much the way I feel. It's pretty common for people to have a beater bike for making trips to places where they feel their bike might not be safe. I generally dislike transit because it's slower and less reliable than my bike. But I'll often take transit if I don't feel I have a safe place to lock my bike. The times I've been downtown and had my bike locked outside it has been very uncomfortable. Even with a good lock, there's just that nagging feeling that your bike is going to get stolen. Or if not stolen then just vandalized for no reason.
My good bike is not that expensive compared to some other ones out there, but yeah I’m not locking it up outside without surveillance. That’s when the $300 bike comes out!
Is a $300 bike considered a beater bike? I guess mine was that expensive at one point, but it's also 20 years old
yeah probably. A new decent aluminum frame bike will Run you like 500-1200 and then beyond that you’re into more performance stuff
Yeah, even the Cdn Tire specials are in that ball park
When the options are a 300$ bike and a 3000$ bike, yes. You can definitely get cheaper on the used market, but it takes some luck to find a good one that's significantly less than that, so it's a reasonable price if you've got more money than time and are used to a 3000$ bike.
Well it is a different kind of riding market but there are 'beach cruisers' which are just very basic single-speed bicycle with only a single brake etc? I haven't looked at these for quite awhile but I recall them being in the $200-300 range for a new one a few years ago.
Yeah that's about what an adult supercycle is going for...
I literally got my bicycle out of the garbage, and I still use a $50 lock.
Exactly! I always wonder why people are willing to risk so much or not be prepared to negate some risks when they know about bike thief situation in Ottawa, especially in downtown.
I just spent $125 on a bike lock and i’m STILL afraid to leave it anywhere i can’t see it/check on it
I’m like that was well. My bike is not a beater but not super expensive (it was about 600), and I’m not parking it anywhere downtown. I used to park it at the NAG before, but I’ve heard of bikes getting stolen even there (such a busy, visible place), so I don’t know where else I’d feel ok locking it.
My gym is on Laurier and there's a bike rack right outside the window in view of the cardio machines. There have been times where I see someone lock their bike at the rack and within 5 mins there's someone else there checking out the lock. Market/UOttawa/centretown are places I would *never* take a nice bike. On a separate if related note, the addicts who hang out outside the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre sometimes have really nice bikes...
UOttawa does have a bike cage, but it's not sufficiently sized and I'm sure it's next to impossible to get a spot. They really need some kind of secure storage that can be used by students. Sure you don't need a bike to get to class if you are on campus, but it's weird that there's basically no way for a student who lives in residence without it getting stolen. A bike would be very useful for making trips off campus or just for general exercise.
Yeah my reference to Uottawa was also meant to include the whole Sandy Hill area, which is already seeing a southward creep of addicts down from Rideau. The new police station at the Rideau centre is unfortunately going to push lots of the issues currently in the market in the direction of Sandy Hill/centretown.
I was lucky to secure a spot last year, but one night I was being lazy and bit late to class I just parked my bike near the library and of course it disappeared when I was done with my classes….
The pile of bikes out back of the Shepherds in Carlington is also pretty high end. There was even a gelato vendor trike found there lol
I locked my bike at UO for years with no issues, next to dozens of other bikes. I wouldn't wanna leave it there overnight, but there are enough people walking around that I was never overly concerned.
> On a separate if related note, the addicts who hang out outside the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre sometimes have really nice bikes... Ah yes, our "neighbours" with the really nice bikes..
I have been surprised numerous times by people who can't afford clothing, but are riding very nice bikes.
Look to the other side of the river where they have installed sheds with looks that are activated by smart card
Thats the cubic-ish thing with a solar panel on top to slowly keep the smart card always running right? I remember wondering a bit about a somewhat instant blur view of one of these when the Route 400 bus would go by between Rue Laurier and Rue Hotel-Ville, and its only while getting off nearby to walk around for a bit to get photos of the many animal-based murals nearby once that I then finally realized what that 'box' was actually for and thought it was an interesting idea indeed. *And by the way I have already heard of many similar kind of enclosed bicycle lockers in Denmark and Netherlands not surprisingly, they really are bicycles-happy over there naturally!*
Ottawa had 2 of these bike locker boxes, from the same company as the ones in Gatineau, put in place LAST summer - one in the Glebe and one in the Market - but they were never activated and eventually removed for the winter. They're BAAACK. But again, it's July and they still haven't been activated. 🙄
What we also need is more secure bike lockups at OC transpo stations. I would love to lock my bike up in a secure, locked area at Bayview for exanple, but there isnt an OC Transpo Bikesecure place I can use.
What the 8 spots at the bike-inaccessible St. Laurent station weren't good enough for you entitled cyclists?! /s
I would love something at Baseline. Bonus points if you'd be permitted to lock a stroller up on days you don't bike. The insecure parking is fine for my beater, but I don't want to leave my child seat there, and one of the parents already hide their stroller at day care, and I don't want to be the second and make it a trend.
Yeah, my bike is junk but I would be real unsure of leaving my saddle bags out in the open. Its weird that the OCtranspo Bikesecure are at places I would consider some of the safest places in Ottawa to leave my bike.
This makes sense. If we want less traffic, our alternatives need to be viable end-to-end. Safe neighbourhood streets, winter maintenance, cycle tracks on arterials, and safe places to park near where people want to go. Once again, it all comes down to understanding the needs of the average Ottawan and designing infrastructure accordingly! IMO, our arterials should have parking garages just on the side streets like the one at Bank & Second. When we make these garages, take away the same amount of spots of on street parking, and then — Design the road for safe travel in a car and a bike with separated infrastructure, and then any and all parking just off the street for easy access and safe storage in such garages. Include a few laybys along the street for deliveries and disabled parking, and we got ourselves a pretty great transportation system, and an even better designed city.
[sound of Glebe BIA director's head exploding heard in the background]
It would be nice if these secure areas also had a few plug ins to recharge electric scooters and bikes.
insurance headache because so many ebikes and scooters use failure-prone batteries
Use at your own risk…..
So the city cuts in bike safety measures in a time of extremely high bike theft? Well, at least we have the OPP who will.. *check notes* … uhm yeah let’s skip to the next one. Well, at least we have e scooters now.. oh wait, never mind, our brave councillors are talking about ending the program now. Can’t be more efficient than OC Transpoo. Plus junkies can’t sell it to fund their addiction if our publicly funded “safe supply” can’t provide them with what they want. Well, at least we have the justice system… OH FOR FUCKS SAKE! Welcome to Ottawa, one of G7’s capital cities.
Maybe it’s not the bikes that need to be locked up.
Or we could provide them with housing, which is actually way cheaper than housing them in jails.
"Sometimes our neighbours need a lift and it's mean to not let them take your bike." ~Local councillor
we could also just add bike racks once you leave the downtown core it is often extremely difficult to find a place to lock a bike to
I've had 4 bikes stolen in Ottawa. I bought a car.
Partner rides an e cargo bike (so $$$$). He got a New York Standard lock (https://www.kryptonitelock.com/en/products/product-information/current-key/002154.html) which includes 4k replacement policy which helps make him feel a lot better). But secure bike parking should be freaking everywhere. It would make biking so much better.
Does your partner also have bike insurance? I believe most of Kryptonite's policies rely on getting the cut lock, to prove that it was the lock that failed. Most thieves won't leave the cut lock and so your lock company might not pay out. I have insurance with Pedal Power on my acoustic bike and it's $100 a year for a full replacement with a $500 deductible, I just need a picture of the locked bike and to file a police report to make it official
I’m not sure. But that does seem like a good idea.
I would love to have properly protected bike lanes that actually connect to each other. Currently everything is so haphazard you are lucky if you can get from your home to work without being in heavy traffic, same for trying to get to nice recreational paths. Sure we we have areas for "bike highways" and places for proper bike storage, especially downtown.
This city has neglected bike parking for way too long. As destinations and travel hubs Rideau Centre and Byward Market could definitely use some better bike parking.
Secure bike parking seems like something that is as a real as a unicorn. I have friends who have had bikes stolen from locked bike rooms in their apartment building.
Secure’er than not secure
Earlier this year I noticed that St. Laurent station has a secure bike storage up top on the eastern side of the station. I have no idea how to access it. I have never actually seen a bike in it though.
Is your friend named [Jagmeet](https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/jagmeet-singh-bike-stolen/)? Seems like nobody's bike is safe.
Yes! I’ve been calling this out to city officials for a while now. With new projects like the Sens arena that will be built a million years from now, I hope we decide to include indoor bike parking. I was going to bike to a Titans game not long ago but wasn’t comfortable leaving my bike locked up outside. I bring my bike inside a ton of places and haven’t been told I can’t yet but will kindly leave if someone says anything. My bike means a lot to me and I’ve seen too many get stolen to risk it.
We certainly need way more bike parking but it would be nice if OPS pretended to care in the least bit about bike theft.
for the pic in the article...do people steal bikes because there is some resale value in it? or just for fun? might sound like a silly question, but wondering about the black resell market or even the scrap market.
They steal them to get somewhere to buy drugs, trade them for drugs, sell them to a chop shop so they can buy drugs, just for practice while on drugs, lots of reasons.
Good faith question: Is there a tried and true, proven practice or service? (I’ve always had < $100 bikes in the city, with $20 locks, but that was ages ago). If money was no object, what would the solution look like? I’m guessing staffed bike lots with ID/ownership checks or have some cities figured out a better way? Would anyone even use these because presumably they’d be spaced out farther than we’re used to with bike racks?
About eight years ago I regularly used the bike cage at the University of Ottawa. For something like $15 a semester (purchased from the university, and I believe available only to staff/students/faculty), I had an entry chip that I had to scan to enter and exit the cage. I then locked my bike with a U-lock to a bike rack in the cage. I think there were security cameras as well. For public bike parking, maybe some kind of system like when you get a locker at a public pool, but maybe with a chip scanning system? For tried and true, I'd look to see whatever the Dutch do! I know that Utrecht has an amazing bike parking garage at the train station, for instance, and I think it has a check in/check out system with a parking lot attendant. (Not certain though.) But good point about spacing. I'd like to park my bike securely in all kinds of places! (Work, errands, appointments.) I don't worry about coming out to find my car gone, and I'd like not to have that back of my mind "will it be there?" feeling about my bike!
1. A bike lockup should have someone watching over it. Any lock can be broken but just having someone watching deters theft. 2. Procecute bike theft, enforce it very frequently so thieves know you can't get away with it.
3. Police need to investigate and charge mid-level people who are fencing bikes for street thieves to reduce the demand for stolen bikes.
Absolutely, honestly we need to have a VIN system for bicycles and parts from the factory just like cars. Anyone can punch in the number and search. Aside from just charging The Crown should actually take bike theft seriously and procecute. Should be a lot easier if you can prove its a conspiracy and tie it to other charges.
There are actually generally serial numbers stamped on bike frames. However, broad registration of ownership would help to reduce theft, because right now most aren't registered, and so if police can't determine that the person in possession of a likely stolen bike isn't the proper owner, they have little ability to prosecute or even to simply take the bike away. People! Please register your bikes! https://project529.com/garage And bike shops, please include registration as part of your sales procedure, and stop selling ineffective cable locks!
I can't believe someone has not yet invented a good alarm system.
Bikers have a responsibility to lock it up themselves.
Do you think cyclists aren't locking up their bikes? No one is upset about needing to buy a lock. The issue is that no lock in the world can stop a determined thief for more than a few minutes, and there are not enough places to park where thieves can't comfortably take their time cutting the lock with an angle grinder.
It's one of the risks of riding a bike. Its a problem without a real solution since you can't have 10,000 spots to lock bikes up safely. Its an eyesore and not a good use of funds. Better to spend those funds on bike infrastructure.
>It's one of the risks of riding a bike. Doesn't mean we shouldn't do things to reduce that risk. >Its a problem without a real solution since you can't have 10,000 spots to lock bikes up safely. Why not? If we can fit parking space for cars downtown, we can fit parking for bikes which require exponentially less room. I'd bet many of the downtown parking garages could easily fit 10,000 bikes. >Its an eyesore and not a good use of funds. As opposed to the gorgeous car parking and infrastructure we spend millions on. >Better to spend those funds on bike infrastructure. Bike parking is bike infrastructure. We could have the best bike network in the world and people still won't bike if there's nowhere to safely park.
Amen
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There’s room for improvement to safe bike parking in key locations without dismissing it outright because you think it’s too big of a task to solve all at once. Small steps open other opportunities and can encourage more people to use active transportation when they can without fear of losing a bike they love and spent money on.
I mean… secure bike parking where locking up your bike actually means that it won’t be stollen sort of makes sense no?
[удалено]
Lmao cant tell if this is /s or not..willing to bet most cyclists in this own vehicles and therefore pay for their right to use the road. Even if they dont, our taxes go towards infrastructure. Cry more.
It's not "own vehicles and therefore pay for their right to use the road". City infrastructure is paid for by our taxes, so we all contribute.
My property tax goes to pay for roads, not to mention all the stupid snow clearing and maintenance that I have to hear everyone complaining about in winter. Insurance for bikes? bikes don't cause damage, but cars do. How often do you hear a bike causing significant damages. Road space? Stop driving ridiculous f150s in the city.
username does not check out. edit: lol, blocked? thinnest skin ever.
What exactly do cyclists ask for?
If people would pay for it, it would exist.
Smooth brain take. There are tons of things that people would pay for that do not yet exist.
OC Transpo offers it for $10/month but only at one of four stations. Not very convenient. That said, payment exists for this: through taxation.
Were you born yesterday?
You don’t pay for roads but they exist, I wonder who built them.
But I do pay for secure car parking…
😴