City of Winnipeg to endorse free bike registry

The City of Winnipeg is poised to do away with its existing bike registry and replace it with an external registry that has no service fee.

On Tuesday, city council's community services committee will consider a report recommending Winnipeg wind down its bike registry and endorse a cloud-based database called 529 Garage instead.

While the city would no longer own and control bike registry data, it would have access to the information when it needs it, according to the report. So would police.

"Moving to this new system will enable the city to enhance their role inevolving crime prevention strategies,proactively enforce and deter bike thefts,and provide recovery, storage, and auctioning of unclaimed bikes," bylaw enforcement licensing co-ordinator Terry Cormierwrites in the report.

The city would spend about $50,000 a year on 529 Garage, according to the report.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillinghamcalled for the replacement of the existing bike registry back in June.

At the time, the city said roughly halfof the 2,000 bikes reported stolen in Winnipeg every yearare recoveredbut only 10 per cent of those bikes ended up back with their rightful owners.

Several cities in Canada, including Vancouver and London, Ont., have partnered with 529 Garage, which was founded in Portland, Ore., in 2013.