The garage door was locked at the Griffintown condo building, security cameras were rolling, and resident Kim Bruneau’s cargo bike was firmly secured with an expensive lock to a steel bike rack. Still, shortly after 8 a.m. on a Saturday, someone made off with the bike her family uses as a primary form of transport in the summer. “He waited for a car to come out, and then he snuck in with his tools, he roamed around all the parking spots to find, i guess, the best bicycle, which was mine,” said Bruneau. “He went straight to it, cut the lock, and took off with it, leaving his own stolen bike behind.” Cargo bikes such as the one stolen from Bruneau are hot items for thieves. They can cost as much as $13,000 and many buildings do not have secure places for them. Allo Velo sells and rents cargo bikes and is seeing increasing demand for families but also businesses and municipalities looking to decarbonize fleets. “We have a lot of families that want to ride four seasons, and it’s pretty doable nowadays,” he said. “But we’re not just seeing families; we’re seeing businesses that are like decarbonizing their fleet, getting into cargo bikes as well. A lot of the delivery companies are already doing it, and especially in the summer when you have no car zones, like Mont-Royal, Wellington, and Verdun, it’s a lot easier to do your deliveries with the cargo bikes instead of the truck.” High-value targets More expensive cargo bikes, however, means more targets for thieves. Velo Quebec spokesperson Magali Bebronne said bike thefts are becoming more problematic, with the days of thieves scanning for cheap or absent locks and stealing bikes for under $100 at a pawn shop a thing of the past. “Things have changed because the value of bikes has gone up dramatically, particularly with e-bikes and e-cargo bikes that can be worth several thousand dollars, and are a huge investment for households or even companies,” she said. Montreal police reported 2,156 bike thefts in 2022. That number rose to 2,587 a year later, and to 2,653 in 2025. As of July 31, a total of 1,180 Montrealers have reported their bikes stolen. Experts recommend a solid bike lock, air tags and registering your bike on the Project 529 app, which keeps a record of it, which police can access if it is stolen. Community to the rescue Bruneau reported the theft to police and posted video of the theft on social media. It’s been shared thousands of times on Facebook. “I’m doing everything that I can,” she said. “I went to every pawn shop, gave them pictures, explained the story, so I don’t know what else to do, but I love seeing at least the community come together. And people wanting to help because who else is going to do it.” Bebronne and Timmins both said that reaching out to the community is a great idea. A stolen cargo bike from Allo Vera was recovered because someone recognized it and told the store, Timmins said. “A powerful tool is to ask the community to help and keep an eye out because that’s one thing that’s been proven quite helpful is to get the word out,” said Bebronne. “Then, if people see the bike on the street in particular if it’s very specific, they can help you find your bike.” More secure spots Velo Quebec certifies companies that provide secure spots for bikes at businesses. Bebronne said that developers and city planners could do more for riders. “Securing places for bikes is a shared responsibility,” she said. “Workplaces have been doing quite a good job and developers need to develop that as well... When we’re talking about cargo bikes or e-bikes are worth three, five, 10 thousand dollars, of course, people won’t buy them if they can’t store them in a safe place, and then the city can do more as well.” Timmins said he would like to see cities follow some of the European trends where bike boxes and covered racks are installed to provide an extra layer of security. “I find a lot of the the buildings now, it is literally just a bike rack in one of the parking lots, and it’s just open to anybody,” he said. “A lot of the developers need to think about that, especially if they’re wanting to build a new building in the downtown core. You must understand that some of your residents are not going to have a car; they’re going to primarily use their bike, so maybe offering something more secure for those new residents buying into your building, i think that would be a good step.” For Bruneau, the loss of her bike hurt. She used it to ride with her daughter and dogs to visit her mother, grab ice cream and enjoy the many kilometres of bike paths in the city. “As soon as we opened the garage door, she was like, “Mommy, where’s our bike?’ And just my heart sank in that minute because Ella just loves it so much, and it’s really hard to explain to a three-year-old that somebody would, you know, steal,” said Bruneau. “It’s not only our bike, but it’s the memory.”
