*Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Her Campus uOttawa. Protection services were contacted for comment but did not reply.*
Dear uOttawa Community,
As a uOttawa student and an avid biker, I am writing to you on behalf of bikers at uOttawa in our concern about the shocking number of bike thefts that occurs on campus.
All in all, the 2014 summer break was phenomenal. I found a great job in Ottawa and looked forward to spending my summer with friends but had no means of getting around. Monthly passes were expensive and most of my friends have road bikes so I borrowed a friend’s spare bike for the summer. With a stellar biking infrastructure, Ottawa makes biking easy; a great alternative to OC Transpo or driving. My buddies and I went to all the festivals, spent time on bridges, canals and even made plans for a camping trip to Gatineau Park.
Then came the first bike theft. It was on uOttawa campus, outside of Seraphin Marion. Although I bought my bike, my buddy, we’ll call him John, built his from the ground up. A fixie (a single gear bike), John bought all the parts separately and started from scratch. It was his pride and joy; a passion that only grew as he spent more time building his bike. He even invested in my bike through maintenance and buying new pedals. I get compliments on my bike wherever I go thanks to him. After a short class in Seraphin Marion, he came out to see his bike gone. On the advice of his professor, we went to Protection to file a report and seek help. Protection was of absolutely no help. They filed a report for the on campus officer and revealed there were no cameras pointed at the bike rack or within the area when the theft happened. We were to be contacted by the on campus police officers with the results of an investigation in a few days. Without a word from anyone, we returned to protection to question the investigation. Apparently, the police was notified but upon asking to see the officer (NB: on a 3:30 on a Wednesday afternoon), we were informed that the officer was only available from 7 am – 2pm.
Who in the world has arbitrary office hours when no one is on campus? Not only was the officer not available, Protection themselves hadn’t even conducted an investigation. Altogether, nothing was done in response to a bike theft. When we tried to bring up the lack of help, we were told “Do you think you are the only one who gets a bike stolen on campus?” When we brought up that bike theft is an issue on campus, Protection didn’t view bike thefts as big an issue as we did. If it was a uOttawa possession that got stolen (i.e laptop, chairs, even library books) Protection’s attitudes would have changed immediately and an investigation would happen immediately.
No problem though. Everyone gets their bike stolen from time to time. John sucked it up and bought a used hard-tail bike from Kijiji for a steal. We started all over again. We bought new parts and started upgrading bikes. Our passion grew exponentially that we started dreaming of opening a small time bike business similar to the bike dump with better quality, service and advice. Lo and behold, two months later, the bike got stolen once again. Only this time, it wasn’t in front of Seraphin Marion but on the bike racks near the OC Transpo Campus station; one of the largest bike hubs.
Once again, we approached Protection but were treated with greater indifference. A supervisor claimed “protection is doing everything we can”. Considering the bike rack in front of OC Transpo is constantly bustling, we asked for video footage from surveillance to catch the thief. There was none available.
Reiteration: One of the most popular bike racks on campus is not under camera surveillance. John put in a lot of work on that bike and once again it is gone. Following the second stolen bike, I surveyed some colleagues about bike security on campus. Among my acquaintances alone, 15 people had their bikes stolen on campus. Protection reported that on average, 1 bike gets stolen a day on campus; not including those that go unreported. No bikes, no help, no resources. That is the stance of uOttawa in terms of bike thefts.
This piece isn’t to complain or vent to the uOttawa community. My friends and I are offering solutions as well. There are two locations on campus deemed secure by Protection for bikes and the general community knows about one of them. Near the cafeteria in LMX, there is a bike parking facility locked by key pass and under surveillance. LMX is popular but can only serve a few people on campus. I bet you didn’t even know the DMS garage has a similar bike parking facility.
As biking is popular amongst students and becomes the popular means of transportation, increased actions against bike thieves needs to be undertaken. More bike parking facilities under key pass and surveillance need to be built. The LMX location supports those in VNR, MNT, FSS and LMX while DMS helps those in DMS. More secured locations can be constructed. TBT is currently undergoing construction, which is the perfect opportunity to build a secure bike location to support TBT, SPN, and HGN. The table below shows perfect places to build secure bike locations on campus.
We didn’t account for all buildings on campus and not all of the bike parks have to be built but the more that are built, the better. Some don’t need a large change in infrastructure or a large investment. Brooks and Minto garages are secluded and can be built on the cheap. If DMS can have a bike park, why can’t the others.
Bike parking also offer other additional benefits. As key passes are used and registered to an individual, they increase accountability. If a bike is stolen using an individual’s key pass, the individual who’s key pass was used can be held responsible if they didn’t take the appropriate actions to prevent it (not locking the doors properly or failing to report a stolen key pass). Blame is divided between the thief and the individual. In addition a dummy system within bike racks can effectively catch thieves. Similar to the uOttawa gym dummy lock system, poorly secured locks in bike racks on campus can be used to organize a sting against bike thieves. Protection can efficiently and effectively corner bike thieves as dummy bikes are stolen.
Preventing bike thefts is not a job for Protection alone. Protection is an extension of the uOttawa administration. uOttawa prides itself as a worldwide leader in sustainability. Muggy Mondays diverts waste from landfills by offering free coffee on Mondays, The Free Store reuses and recycles anything and everything while other programs such as Furniture Reuse, Dump and Runs and Fair Trade Coffee ensure that everything that can be reused does get reused. Biking is a growing worldwide phenomenon rife with positive externality from getting in shape to reducing our environmental impact. If uOttawa was truly sustainable, it would do everything possible in accordance with Protection to ensure those who are trying to make a positive change by biking can continue to do so by cracking down on bike thieves for those of us who are tired of having our bikes stolen!
Picture Credits