Bike Thieves vs Neighbourhood Heroine

Sometime last summer, around 6 pm on a weekday, I parked my bike at Rideau Centre in Ottawa, right on Rideau, next to another couple of bikes, with constant foot traffic around. I figured my bike would be pretty safe here. Ofc, I locked it with two relatively heavy u-locks – one each for the front and rear wheels, one of which is mounted on the bike itself and another that I carry in my backpack.

When I came back from the mall, I noticed there were now two bikes next to mine. There were two gentlemen busy ‘working’ on a decidedly feminine bike. They were taking out tools from pouches, working on locks, totally lost in their focus. I was eating some takeout, and thought huh, that’s weird, but I thought I should discreetly see what’s happening. While I was dilly-dallying, a hero showed up. A tall and well-put-together lady in her thirties showed up and started to berate these guys.

“You guys are scum, you know that? People depend on these bikes. Why are you stealing someone’s ride? You are total scum! Is this your bike??”

One of the two guys skedaddled so quickly I didn’t even see him leave. The other went all red and said I don’t know the other guy, I don’t know anything, hello there, oh yes this is my bike.” At this point I’m like what bike? This is my bike! He said oh, no this third bike is mine. Then he took out a full bag of keys and scrunched around for a full 2 minutes (while the lady was continuing her tirade against bike thieves, noting how her own bike was stolen a couple of months ago). A few people gathered together. The guy finally found the key, unlocked the bike, and rode off.

Well, firstly, that lady is my hero. I didn’t get her name but who ever she is, she’s great. I hope more people (including myself) call out bike thieves while they operate right in front of us.

Secondly, bike theft SUCKS. But honestly, this brings me to my another rant:

Needing bike locks ALSO sucks

It’s super annoying having to carry two locks. It’s also not fun trying to find an appropriate locking location when your first choice is chock-full of other bikes. And by far the most annoying part is having to sweat copiously while trying to figure out locking. Or maybe it’s just me. I wish we lived in a nice world where everyone could just not have to worry about bike thefts. To be fair, if we are wishing, I’d rather wish for a world with easy teleportation with no downsides or side-effects.

Which brings me to the solution for the bike locking problem. And many other problems too, ofc.

BIKE SHARES

I lived in Montreal for almost 8 years. I had a bike of my own for 1 of those years. The other years - I used Bixi. So cheap. So good. No maintenance. No repairs. Just unlock, ride off, dock back. Ah, bliss.

Ok sometimes I had to find another station to dock at, but there are normally 3 stations within 4 blocks. So, not really a problem. You do need a great network like Montreal's, though. See here:

You do need network effects to make a difference, though. Can't just put 3 docks across town and call it a day. Build it and they will come. I know Ottawa had a pathetic ride-share back in the day (before I moved here, anyway). Can we get one that works?

I'm waiting! Ottawa is waiting.