WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Faculty Code: REL Project Sequence: 8004 IQP Division: 44 An Interactive Qualifying Project submitted to the faculty of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Bachelor of Science. Free Wheels: An Assessment of Bicycle Theft in Denmark Submitted to the Dansk Cyklist Forbund (DCF) Jakob Schiøtt Stenbæk Madsen (Project Liaison) - [email protected] Jens Loft Rasmussen (Director) - [email protected] Submitted by: Ryan Cantalupo - [email protected] Ian Crowe - [email protected] Sonja Kent - [email protected] May 3, 2013 This report represents work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................. v Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Background ................................................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Denmark: Cycling Nation .................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Bicycle Theft in Denmark .................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Current Anti-Theft Measures .............................................................................................................. 8 2.4 Bike Theft Prevention Programs ....................................................................................................... 13 2.5 Stakeholders ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 3: Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 4: Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 19 4.1 Understanding the Impact of Bicycle Theft and Anti-Theft Measures ............................................. 20 4.2 Identification of Stakeholder Interests ............................................................................................. 21 4.3 Evaluation of Current Prevention and Recovery Methods ............................................................... 23 4.4 Discussion of Theft Reduction Strategies ......................................................................................... 24 Chapter 5: Results and Analysis .................................................................................................................. 26 5.1 The State of Bicycle Theft ................................................................................................................. 26 5.2 Stakeholder Opinions ........................................................................................................................ 33 5.2.1 Danish Cyclists ............................................................................................................................ 35 5.2.2 The DCF ...................................................................................................................................... 37 5.2.3 Insurance Companies ................................................................................................................. 37 5.2.4 Bicycle Dealers ........................................................................................................................... 39 5.2.5 Involved Businesses ................................................................................................................... 39 5.2.6 Danish Municipalities ................................................................................................................. 41 5.2.7 Police .......................................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 6: Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 7: Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 45 7.1 Anti- Bicycle Theft Campaign ............................................................................................................ 45 7.2 City-Wide Solutions ........................................................................................................................... 48 7.2.1 Improved Parking ....................................................................................................................... 48 7.2.2 Abandoned Bicycle Cleanup ....................................................................................................... 50 7.2.3 Open Police Database ................................................................................................................ 51 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 53 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 58 A. Interviews ........................................................................................................................................... 58 The DCF ............................................................................................................................................... 58 Police ................................................................................................................................................... 65 Anti-Bike Theft Organizations ............................................................................................................. 68 Politician/City Planner ......................................................................................................................... 69 Forsikring og pension (Representative of Danish insurance agencies) .............................................. 70 Danish cyclists ..................................................................................................................................... 73 Bicycle Dealers (March 2013) ............................................................................................................. 75 HVISCYKEL.dk (April 2nd 2013) ........................................................................................................... 77 B. Survey ................................................................................................................................................. 81 C. Sponsor Description ............................................................................................................................ 84 D. Train Station Observations ................................................................................................................. 86 E. Denmark Municipalities ...................................................................................................................... 87 F. Website Pages ..................................................................................................................................... 88 G. Infographics ........................................................................................................................................ 90 i Abstract This project, sponsored by the Danish Cyclist Federation, describes the current state of bicycle theft in Copenhagen with the ultimate goal of recommending the best solutions to help reduce the problem. From our research it was concluded that the cycling infrastructure is insufficient to successfully support a technological solution and the general attitude towards the individual's ability to prevent bike theft needs to be improved. In addition to fully documenting our results in this report, our research has led to the development and proposal of a cohesive social awareness campaign on bicycle theft. ii Acknowledgements We would like to thank everyone who assisted with our project. Without these people, our IQP would not have been possible to complete so fully. Special thanks to the Dansk Cyklist Forbund for giving us such a challenging and interesting project; our liaison Jakob Madsen, the director of the DCF Jens Rasmussen, our advisor Reinhold Ludwig, and Robert Hersh for their guidance; site coordinators Tom Thomsen and Peder Pedersen for establishing this project;