We mapped bike thefts in Toronto. Here are the riskiest neighbourhoods.

The number of bike thefts dropped in 2021, but downtown remains the hardest-hit area.

A forgotten bike lock hangs from a Toronto bicycle ring — A total of 3,189 bikes were stolen in Toronto in 2021. (Craig Battle)

Just about every cyclist in Toronto knows someone who’s had a bike stolen — or has had one stolen themselves.

Parking on a busy downtown street is always going to be a risk, but cyclists say street-level thefts have been harder to avoid in recent years. Thieves have been spotted stealing bikes in broad daylight, using power tools to cut through locks.

Even locking bikes indoors hasn’t always been a solution — condo and apartment garages have also been the target of thefts. Many buildings don’t have security for their garages, making it easy for bike thieves to slip in and take what they can find. And even if a bike has a sturdy lock, thieves can lift seats, handlebars, or even unlocked wheels, which can all be sold individually.

That’s the bad news. The good is that reported bike thefts fell precipitously in 2021 from the year before, which could point to a turning of the tide.

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) collects open data on stolen bikes, which can help identify riskier neighbourhoods. We broke down the latest data, which dropped on March 31, to show you how you can keep your bike safe.

A bit of context: The TPS can only collect data from bike thefts that have been reported, which means it’s possible their figures underestimate the real situation. To date, the TPS has shared records as far back as 2014.

Key facts:

While bike theft reports had been steadily increasing in the city for years — from 3,058 in 2014 to 3,951 in 2020 — the number dropped significantly in 2021. A total of 3,189 bikes were reported stolen, a 19.3 per cent drop from the previous year. It’s unclear how much of that was driven by COVID-19 factors, however, especially as 2020 saw a 5.9 per cent increase from the year prior.
The first year of the pandemic was also notable for a shift in the locations of thefts. Residential areas saw a 24.2 per cent increase from 2019 while commercial locations experienced a 12.4 per cent drop. Correlated with the residential-area rise was a spike in thefts categorized as breaking-and-entering offences. However, 2021 saw lower totals in all three categories, with residential areas seeing the steepest drop at 27.1 per cent.
The day matters. Years of TPS data show that thefts are most common early in the week, and taper off towards the weekend. Typically, Monday and Tuesday are the worst days. Most thefts also occur after the first week of the month, making it substantially safer than other times.
Downtown has been the riskiest place to park a bike for a few years, and 2021 was no exception. The hardest-hit neighbourhood by a significant margin is Waterfront Communities-The Island, which stretches from Bathurst St. in the west to the Don Valley Parkway in the east, and includes the Fashion and Entertainment districts, the Toronto Islands, and St. Lawrence Market.
The next-riskiest neighbourhoods are the Bay Street Corridor and the Church-Yonge Corridor. There are also concentrated thefts as far north as Kensington and The Annex, as far west as Niagara, and as far east as Riverdale.

Community solutions

Ry Shissler is the communications manager for charity organization Cycle Toronto, which advocates for policies that make cycling in the city safer.

Shissler has had bikes stolen in the past and reported them to the city, but says hopes for recovery are slim. “The main reason why I reported them stolen [was] so that I can make the insurance claim — not because I expected the police to actually be able to recover it or find it.”

The City of Toronto posts tips on how to prevent theft, but Shissler says officials can still do more, such as passing bylaws to create more secure parking in apartment buildings.

But they also point to the impact of grassroots solutions such as 529 Garage, an online community of cyclists who report and look for stolen bikes. Users can purchase a tamper-resistant sticker and register their bike with the 529 Garage database. If a thief takes a registered bike and puts it up for sale online, other users will be able to spot the sticker and report it as stolen.

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