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529 Garage bike registration Friday in Duncan: make it harder for thieves to steal your bike

It takes all of five minutes and it could help you recover your stolen bike
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Yellow bicycle Registering with 529 Garage gives owners a chance in recovering their bicycles. (Citizen file)

It takes all of five minutes and it could help you recover your stolen bike but there’s a catch: you have to be proactive.

On Friday, Nov. 3 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. the North Cowichan RCMP and staff at Experience Cycling are holding a 529 Garage bike registration event.

The 529 Garage is an online-based bike registration program that enables participants to register their bicycles for free and then notify everyone else using the program (website or app) if and when it is stolen so everyone can be on the lookout. “The program has successfully assisted in the recovery of stolen bikes in a number of communities across B.C., and was recently credited as assisting Vancouver in reducing bike thefts by 35 per cent in 2017,” said a press release issued by Sgt. Kristine Wood of the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP.

The program is already being used in Nanaimo and Parksville as well as elsewhere around the province.

“We are always looking for better ways to prevent crime and assist in stolen property recovery. This program has a proven record of helping reduce bicycle thefts in other communities, so we are pleased to partner with Experience Cycling in hosting this event,” Wood said.

Those interested in the program just have to bring their bikes to Experience Cycling at 428 Trans Canada Hwy. during the event. There, police and volunteers will record the serial number and register the bike with 529 Garage. The bike will then have a 529 Garage “shield” sticker affixed, identifying the bike as being registered in the program.

The 529 Garage App can be downloaded from the App Store or from Google Play and it can be found online at https://project529.com/garage



Sarah Simpson

About the Author: Sarah Simpson

I started my time with Black Press Media as an intern, before joining the Citizen in the summer of 2004.
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