This week we launched the Stop Bike Theft campaign which aims to raise awareness about the impacts of bicycle theft on sustainable mobility, and collect data about the location and patterns of stolen bicycles. The campaign asks users to report stolen bicycles on the BiciZen crowdsourcing platform, and contribute to our understanding of this crime that remains largely in the shadows of mobility conversations.
In the last two years, the reports of bicycle theft has increased 34%. When we started asking for data on bicycle theft a few years back, we found that there were 870 reports of stolen bicycles in 2021. But in 2023, this has increased by more than a third to 1,167. The release of this figure has captured headlines in major newspapers and media outlets in Barcelona including Ara, El Periodico, El Periodico (paper), La Vanguardia, El Punt Avui, El Diari de Barcelona, Tot Barcelona, and Beteve Televisió.
Official data tells us that a bit over 3 bikes are stolen a day in Barcelona, but we know that this is an underestimate. A survey with bicycle theft victiums reveals that at most, one third of stolen bikes are reported to the police (Sax 2023). This makes the official police data at least one third of what the real number is likely to be.
But there is another reason why the official count of stolen bicycles is an underestimate. The police only share information about stolen bicycles in which victims are able to provide a serial number or some identifiable information. Without that information, the police report is taken, but it is not entered into the database. In other words, these reports are lost in the system. The police argue that they only enter reports into the database that have the possibility of being returned to their owners, and if the owner cannot provide identifying information, then there is nothing they can do.
But yet if we want to understand the magnitude of a type of crime, the data is valuable. We would like to have further conversations with the police about data collection protocols so that when citizens report stolen bicycles, that this data may still count, even if the police considers that nothing can be done.
The launch event allowed us to hear ideas from the cycling community about what could be done. Here are a few of the ideas shared:
- The city should provide tax incentives to private home owners who include community bicycle parking on their property. The reduction in the property tax for renewable energy would be a useful precendent. This is a win-win because the city does not need to budget resources, and bicycle users are able to access parking in their own building, where it is most convenient.
- The city should require major events to always have bicycle parking. Low cost and mobile systems are available. While some events have bicycle parking, there are still many that do not.
- The city needs to develop a bicycle parking strategy, that includes the issue of bicycle theft.
- We should learn more about who are the bike thieves, if they work alone or in coordination, and can we learn more about the demand.
You can download the presentation at the event, including the most recent data about stolen bicycles in 2023 here.
The launch event was moderated by Eduard Folch, of CUBIC Co-op, and included comments from Clément Rames of AQUI co-op. and we are grateful for everyone who helped make the event a success, especially Laura Heckmann, Gerard Castilla, Lola Chavez, and Hèlene Ballart.
The Stop Bike Theft campaign is being funded by the IMPETUS program on Citizen Science.
If you would like to learn more about the campaign and contribute, please reach out to us here.
