Thieves target bike repair stations

REPEATED theft from the bike repair station outside the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre has left the community no choice but to keep the tools inside.

At least 15 public repair stations are available in Winnipeg 24-7. The free stations differ in colour and style — they look like random coloured poles, either red, yellow or green, from a distance — but they usually have a stand so users can lift a bike up to work on it, as well as a pump and a range of multi-tools.

There are a handful downtown, including one in West Broadway that only consists of a single metal stand because the tools and pump have been stolen.

The station was installed last summer. It had to be replaced one month later. And now, the tools are gone again.

“It’s unfortunate because there are a lot of families — not just bikers, moms who are pushing a stroller around and want to put air in their stroller tires,” said Lawrence Mulhall, director of the community centre.

He blamed bike theft rings in the neighbourhood.

Mulhall said they’re going to leave the stand outside and keep the tools and pump inside the centre, so people can take their bikes inside or sign out tools to do repairs at home.

Meanwhile, the station outside thedowntown Millennium Library is going to be moved because of repeated theft, said Currie Gillespie, a cycling advocate and the general manager of Rackworks, a company that builds and sells made-in-Manitoba bike-repair stations in Winnipeg.

Gillespie said the problem isn’t isolated to downtown; tools are stolen from stations all over the city.

“All the (Rackworks) locations that are opento the public have been vandalized at least once,” he said. Those include the BNC pit stops, two on the Bishop Grandin Greenway and two in Transcona — the most recent targets.

The Transcona BIZ installed two repair stations earlier this summer, one at the corner of Pandora Avenue and Bond Street and another at 135 Regent Ave. The cost to purchase and install the stations was $3,000.

(The BIZ funded the project with part of an active transportation grant from the city; other pit stops have been installed thanks to private donations and city councillor budgets.) Both east end stations have been vandalized twice, said Alex Morrison, executive director of the BIZ. The latest robbery took place on the long weekend.

“The idea is to bring your bike to the tools, don’t bring the tools to your bike,” Morrison said.

“It’s frustrating. I don’t know if it’s maliciousness or someone who has beefagainst biking and this is their way of making their feelings known.”

She said the BIZ set aside $400 in its annual budget for service stop maintenance. If needed, the general maintenance fund can be used for fixing things such as broken benches.

“We’re creative, we could do a lot with $400 to improve the community if we didn’t have to set that aside for stupid things like replacing tools that have been stolen.”

The latest Winnipeg Police Service report says theft of items worth $5,000 or less in Winnipeg increased 15 per cent in 2017.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie