SEATTLE (BRAIN) — Project 529's recent collaboration with Hubtiger will provide another avenue to deter bike theft and improve odds of recovery if stolen.
Hundreds of shops worldwide use Hubtiger's cloud-based repair and rental software, while Project 529 bike registry platform, 529 Garage, has an estimated $1.1 billion in registered bikes in its database. Because all bikes need service eventually, stolen registered bikes can be more easily discovered when serviced. The registry platform is offered to all Hubtiger clients at no additional cost.
Through this collaboration, bike shops can instantly check a bike's status, whether it is stolen, registered, or unregistered.
"In terms of the collaboration with Hubtiger, when bike owners register, they greatly improve their chance of a recovery if their bike is stolen, as there is a way not only for police but also the community to check to see how to get the bike back to the owner," said Lara Ferroni, Project 529 CEO and co-founder, in an email to BRAIN. "So if this helps more bike owners register, it will make a real difference. Also, we know that stolen bikes, especially e-bikes, often show up at some point in bike shops for maintenance. So that provides another potential point of recovery that would be very difficult without this type of integration."
With the 529 Garage registry activated, a shop can check a bike’s serial number to determine if it’s been reported stolen or if it’s already been registered. If not registered, the shop can recommend the free service to the customer. Hubtiger doesn’t share any other customer data with Project 529 and only with customer permission.
Ferroni said Project 529 internal theft report numbers show a slight increase worldwide but that doesn’t mean thefts are necessarily increasing; it’s just because more users are registering and using its service.
"In the cities where 529 is embraced by the community, our partner police departments have reported that bike theft is down over previous years," she said. "Denver police reported that bike theft was down almost 30% in the past year. Vancouver, B.C., police report that bike theft is down 60% since they began working with us in 2015. Anecdotally, many cities saw jumps in bike theft during the pandemic."
The estimated thefts from the FBI report from 2019-2023, as provided by Ferroni:
- 2019: 155,785
- 2020: 155,908
- 2021: 108,418
- 2022: 128,788
- 2023: 118,211
"We know from talking to our customers that bike theft is a severely under-reported crime with estimates of only about 5% to 10% of bike thefts reported to the police," she said. "And we've seen this with our missing bike alerts, even when we strongly encourage bike owners to report to the police, often they don't. So I'd take the numbers from this FBI report with more of an eye on trends vs. actual theft numbers. The actual theft numbers will be in the low millions annually."
In June, Project 529 was acquired by Two Three Bird, a cyclist insurance company.
