How not to have your bike stolen

Engineering and Wharton sophomore Frank Geng rode his bike to the Engineering Quad in March as he was getting ready to work with a group of friends on an electric racing project. He didn’t know at the time that his bike would be stolen that night.

“I parked my bike just outside Towne at around 7 p.m. When I came out at around 10, my bike was gone,” Geng recounted.

He locked his bike to the rack outside of Towne using a chain lock — a lock that is easily broken, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said.

Geng bought a new bike recently and started using a U-lock — the most reliable type of lock, Rush noted. But still, “I [will] never park my bike near Towne again,” Geng said.

With bike theft historically a major crime at Penn, the Division of Public Safety is introducing new monitoring technology to reduce bike thefts on campus.

Starting last year DPS began installing analytics cameras at major parking locations to help track people who steal bikes from racks. 

The cameras help combat crime because they are connected to a detector that sets off an alarm if someone stays at a bike rack for too long. If a person is standing at the rack and hears an alarm, the theory is that they will turn their head up and the camera will take a picture of their face.

As of now, there are about 15 such cameras installed at different locations on campus.

Rush also said that another way for a student not to have their bike stolen is for them to find an alternative to riding their

Another alternative for students worried about bike theft is walking. Rush pointed out that buildings on Penn’s campus are very accessible from everywhere. “It’s very healthy too,” she added.

Rush emphasized that if a student insists on riding their own bike, it is crucial for them  to take good measures to protect it. “The key is to register your bike on Penn Express, use a U-lock and use it correctly,” Rush said.

But even if you use a U-lock, you can run into trouble.

College and Engineering senior Eric Xu had his bike stolen after he locked it to a sign outside of Chestnut Hall using a U-lock. “The next morning when I went back to get it, it wasn’t there anymore,” he said.

From then on, Xu decided to take the second piece of Rush’s advice: He would walk, instead of bike, across campus.

Xu never bought a new bike. “It’s not very necessary and quite expensive to lose [the bike] as well,” Xu said.

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