CITY TO CONSIDER

NEW BIKE REGISTRY

WINNIPEG could soon endorse a new bike registry in hopes of reuniting more stolen cycles with their owners.

A new public service report calls for the city to urge citizens to register their bikes with 529 Garage, a free, cloud-based system that would replace an internal city-run bike registry that has a $7.35 registration fee.

Council would also consider providing about $50,000 in each of the next four years to implement a new registration and theft-prevention program. The city sought new bike registration options in June, noting up to 2,000 bicycles are reported stolen in Winnipeg each year; about 1,000 are recovered but less than 10 per cent are successfully returned to their owners.

If council approves, the new registry would share data with hundreds of police agencies and Winnipeg civic officials to help get more bikes returned.