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Date: 9/6/2022
HOLYOKE – Vandalism and dumping of Holyoke Valley Bikes into city canals over the summer has caused the city to bring this to the attention of the public.
Last month, City Hall sent out a press release about the ongoing bike vandalism and Mayor Joshua Garcia partnered with Valley Bikes for a video showing Holyoke residents how to access and use the transportation service. Director of Planning and Economic Development Aaron Vega also did a brief interview with Holyoke Media about the recent Valley Bike vandalism as a public service announcement about some of the ways it has been happening.
Vega said in the interview this was not a unique trend to Holyoke and called it “almost an international trend in some ways.” He added that in Amsterdam, the bike sharing capital of the world, they pull out thousands of bikes from their canal system.
“It’s always surprising with this stuff because its actually not just someone taking it and vandalizing it, these are very well thought out actions. Someone’s using a fake credit card and possibly a fake ID to get the bike unlocked – because you have to register to get this bike unlocked – so its actually premeditated if you will,” Vega said in the interview.
The city has identified a location where some of the fake usernames, IDs and credit cards are coming from and are working with the Holyoke Police Department in patrolling areas and working to prevent more vandalism of the bikes.
According to information from city officials, the bikes are being used under false identification information and ridden until the battery dies, which also turns off the GPS system in the bike. Afterwards the bike is off the grid, and these are what city officials have been recovering from the most problematic area, the canal located near South Bridge and Lyman Streets.
Planning and Economic Development Senior Project Manager Ileana Carrion said attention to these issues was brought to the city by Valley Bike in early July. Four bikes were initially recovered and identified from the canal they were thrown into. The bikes being recovered are coming back permanently damaged due to being in the water.
The ongoing issue this summer has led to city efforts in identifying the individuals committing these crimes. Carrion said Valley Bike attempted to stop serving the bikes on the weekends, but it did not end up helping the situation.
“We’re kind of in the process of trying to see what’s the best approach right now but we’re definitely working with police enforcement,” Carrion said.
Carrion said Valley Bikes has been committed to working with the city in recovering vandalized and abandoned bikes. While there have been problem areas of vandalism, Carrion added there are still plenty of Valley Bike pick up spots in the city that are safe and have had no issues like this.
“Something we want to make clear is we don’t want to end Valley Bike for anyone. We wanted to keep going. People use this to get to school, to get to work, to get groceries. So, while the vandalism is a horrible thing, we don’t want it to deter us from eliminating something that’s so valuable to the community,” Carrion said.
Carrion added that Vega’s comments about waiting for the bike’s battery to run out were completely correct and that Captain Isaias Cruz has disclosed to her that perhaps the people stealing and vandalizing the bikes are selling the batteries of the bikes around the city after dumping the bike. She added that with this becoming the issue it has, their number one approach was police enforcement in these identified problem areas.
If residents discover an abandoned bike with no battery or one in the canal, they are encouraged to contact the Police Department and either drop it off to them or let them know of the bike. Carrion added some residents have already done this and once the bikes are in police custody, Valley Bike comes by and takes them back.
Carrion said hopes for the city are to use proper enforcement and community outreach to let residents know of this ongoing issue and what they can do to help recover bikes. She also noted that they have tried to see what other bike sharing communities have done to combat this type of vandalism to help formulate their response to the issue.
Vega said in his interview with Holyoke Media that it’s frustrating as there are so many great things ongoing in Holyoke, but people can get attracted to the negative news more. He hopes this does not cause divisiveness due to a few bad actors and wants residents to continue to utilize the Valley Bike Share program because of all its benefits.
City officials like the mayor and Vega are continuing efforts to address the vandalism to ensure Valley Bike stays in Holyoke. They have been working with Valley Bike, the Police Department and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission on addressing the issue.
“We’re bringing this to the public just so people are aware that these are city-owned bikes and what these actions are is totally prohibited and not okay,” Carrion said. “Anyone who is doing these things here, please stop doing this because Valley Bike is so valuable to Holyoke and it’s all-over Western Mass.”