The City of Winnipeg is backpedalling its old online bicycle registry in favour of a new, free registration system that the mayor says will help prevent bike theft and make it easier to reunite owners with their stolen bikes.
“This new service is user-friendly and effective,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said at a news conference at The WRENCH bicycle repair shop on Monday.
“By making cycling a safer and more attractive option, we’re paving the way for Winnipeg really to become a leading cycling city.”
Winnipeg has officially partnered with Project 529, a global, cloud-based bike registration database. Bike owners can register their bike for free by downloading the app and entering their bike information and contact information.
Cities, law enforcement and bike shops that have partnered with the service can search the database for stolen bikes and contact owners if their bike has been found.
Owners can also create an alert if their bike has been stolen, and search the database to find out whether a bike they’re trying to buy is stolen.
“If a bike is stolen in Winnipeg and makes its way to say Calgary or Regina for resale, then the bike shop owners in those cities or potential bike purchasers can easily check the information and report it to police,” Gillingham told reporters.
Winnipeg’s current system, which costs users $7.77 to register their bike, will be shut down by May 1, 2026, a release from the city says. It will no longer accept new registrations by Wednesday.
Bike owners can also buy a tamper-proof sticker from 529 for about $14 and place it on their bike to deter potential thieves.
Gillingham brought forward a motion last fall for the city to consider implementing the new registry. A city report at the time said it would cost about $50,000.
‘It’s free, it’s quick, it’s simple’
The city told CBC News last summer that about 2,000 bikes are reported stolen in Winnipeg every year. About 1,000 are recovered, though only 10 per cent of those are returned.
Mark Cohoe, the executive director of Bike Winnipeg, says the new registry will improve the odds of stolen bikes getting recovered.
“It’s one of the things that holds the city back in terms of getting people out cycling,” he said at the news conference.
Evan Duncan, who chairs the city’s community services committee, said the new system is something Winnipeg cyclists have been calling for.
“They want to feel safe, they want their property to be safe, and this is the first step,” he said Monday.
“It’s important that we send a clear message that bikes just aren’t out there to take at your leisure, and there’s gonna be some consequences if you’re found with a bike that’s registered to an owner.”
He said the city will be tracking how well the system does in preventing thefts and how many people register with it.
“[If] we potentially don’t see this program being used to its fullness, then we can take other steps through by-aw to make this a requirement to have people register,” Duncan said.
Several cities in Canada, including Vancouver and London, Ont., have partnered with 529 Garage, which was founded in Portland, Ore., in 2013.
After it was launched in Vancouver in 2018, bike thefts went down by 30 per cent, city police said at the time.
Gillingham is encouraging all bike owners to sign up right away: “It’s free, it’s quick, it’s simple.”
He said Monday’s announcement is part of other city initiatives that aim to encourage active transportation — such as adding more secure bike storage options downtown — something Gillingham said he would like to see more of.