In December of 2007, ABC volunteers fanned out across the city to hunt down and assess bicycle racks. Below is a map of the results, completed with GIS volunteer expertise from Jeff and Lyuba. In addition to the bike racks, indicated by the green bikes, this map also features a layer showing the locations of stolen bikes reported during 2007-2008 (through October), indicated by the red markers. While we know stolen bikes tend to be greatly under-reported, it's interesting to see where the reported thefts took place. The concentration in the northeast quadrant of the city likely indicates the presence of an active cycling population that is more likely to report bike thefts to the police.

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The attached graphs show bicycle thefts reported to the Atlanta Police Department from 2006-2008. As you can see, from these reports bike thefts appear to be on the rise in the city, although we only have three years for comparison, so it's not statistically significant. Also, these numbers do not necessarily include thefts reported to university police - for instance, over 100 bikes are stolen annually from Georgia Tech's campus. Still, the possible trend is disturbing as bicycle theft can be a strong deterrent from commuting.

ABC is working with partners including Central Atlanta Progress and local universities to educate cyclists on how and where to lock up their bikes securely - most bike thefts can be prevented. To learn more, check out this article with tips on how to prevent bicycle theft.