Wednesday Morning Commute - Thick as Thieves

Good morning

• While total thefts in DC have declined, bike thefts in DC have gone up. Wards 2 and 6 are the hotspots for bike theft - probably because that's where all the black kids are. "As the number of stolen bikes steadily dropped in Ward 2, reports of stolen bikes in Ward 6 increased without fail each year." About 5% of those bikes are left unlocked. While the article asserts that bikes have been recovered by the police and returned to owners, there is no indication of how often that has happened.
  
• More CaBi animations.
• TBD has an update to its post on the most recent pedicab driver arrest (scroll to the bottom). There is probably room to criticize both parties based on this account.
• Electric bike ride from NYC to San Francisco passes through DC on Friday.

Comments

[charlie]

my bike was stolen; recovered by police but half way around the county.

It is shame there isn't bike insurance. My renters policy would have covered it, but it was below the $500 deductible. They also gave me a strange story about depreciation (the bike cost me about 800, but since it was two years old..)

[Jim T]

Adverse selection will probably prevent the private sector from offering insurance for bike theft.

Lately, homeowners are often advised to just eat a relatively small loss such as theft under $1000 or so, because reporting these claims more than twice can lead some companies to cancel and premiums to rise more than the value of the claim.

[dayglo]

Jim T:

Yep. Buy a new bike and a better lock.

[washcycle]

I had renters insurance for 11 years. I made one claim for a stolen bike (less deductable is was about $200). When I bought a house, the company I had renter's insurance with wouldn't insure me because of the claim I'd made. #Marketfailure #lessonlearned

[KG]

My renters insurance policy company will "schedule" my daily commuter for about $5 per month. (The road bike would be $20/month - not worth it). They say scheduling the bikes means I wouldn't have to pay a deductible on a claim if they were stolen outside of the home. Has anyone done this and tried to make a claim? You'd think for the extra $5/month they're getting out of you they would be willing to keep insuring you after a claim or two.