More days, less days, there is a word that comes up again in the Facebook groups where urban cyclists usually meet: "ROLLED". Judging by the history of one of these groupsIn the YouTube channel, it can be inferred that bike thefts in Lisbon are frequent: they happen on the street, in garages, in daylight or at night. The YouTube channel One Cyclist In Lisbon even caught one of these episodes in the middle of Saldanha, in the middle of the confusion.
Lenon Reis, 31, from Salvador, Brazil, who has been living in Lisbon for two years, was one of the people who, from one moment to the next lost his bike and used Facebook to share the situation, in case someone knew something and could help. "My bike never slept on the street, it stays inside my room. But that day at night I had left it in front of the house because I was still going out with it. I left it stuck where I always left it."he tells us. Lenon just went home for a few hours, always watching the bike from the window to see if everything was okay with it. "At 10 p.m., 10:30 p.m. or so, when I went to pick up my bike for a ride, she was gone."
Anyone who has been there will understand the pain Lenon felt at that moment. The young man went immediately to the nearest police station, gave all the information about the bicycle to register the complaint, and did what many people usually do, more or less hopefully: wait and keep an eye on the most used online shopping platforms. Lenon was lucky. The next day, he found the bike on one of these sites - the Facebook Marketplace -, contacted the supposed seller and went back to the police station.
"I talked to the cops, they said they couldn't do much because the place where I had made an appointment with the salesman was outside their jurisdiction." But Lenon left with the contact of a Benfica agent, "who works with research"and to whom he then delivered the place and time he had agreed with the seller of his own bike. The rest is history: the PSP (Public Security Police) dealt with the fake purchase and brought the bike to the police station, where Lenon recognized it as his bike. "I was able to do it by pictures, my bike has no serial number but it has specific details that I gave to the officers when I registered the occurrence"mentions. "The alleged seller is going to answer a lawsuit for third party theft. Now what that will lead to I don't know."
Bicycle theft is not a problem unique to Lisbon and happens all over the world. The New York Times, for example, wrote in October last year that thefts increased 27% with the pandemic in New York Cityin the street, as well as in garages and storage rooms. Contacted by Lisboa Para Pessoas, the PSP informed that they were between 78 and 81 thefts of bicycles in Lisbon in the last two yearsOnly four vehicles have been recovered. It is possible that many of these crimes will never be accounted for by the authorities.
These unpleasant situations should not be a deterrent to using the bicycle as a means of transportation. Users can protect themselves by purchasing and using locks with high levels of security - it is often said as a rule that the lock must cost 10% of the bicycle's value. In principle, the more expensive the lock, the better it is. Strong, U-shaped locks are recommended. The bicycle must be held by the frameThe best way to do this is to use supports in the street that are well anchored to the ground and that allow this form of parking. It is not uncommon to use two locks.
In a city like Lisbon, electric bicycles - of higher value than conventional ones - offer a technological solution to the ups and downs and there are more and more electric bicycles in circulation, as pointed out by recent data from Instituto Superior Técnico. In response, to the thefts and beyond a good lock, The city must also find answers, as is the case of the EMEL's new underground parking lotsThis is the first time we have seen a video surveillance system of this kind, which will soon be spread throughout the city.
