A woman whose $900 bike was stolen from one of the racks outside Macarthur Station in Oakland managed to get it back with some help from BART police, and get the thief arrested. As is often the case, she found her bike for sale on Craigslist and enlisted the help of BART cops to come with her when she went to "buy" her bicycle back.
The thief had cut the woman's U-lock off to take the bike, but she could still prove it was hers because she had a key that fit the Pinhead locks she had for the wheels and seat. As BART reports, "The suspect was also arrested for possession of narcotics, an outstanding warrant out of Reno for $25,000.00, probation violation, and possession of forged identification."
BART police lately are encouraging people to use two U-locks when locking bikes up at public racks like this to discourage thieves from having to hack through both.
Also, if anything similar happens to you, they encourage you not to try to recover your bike without police assistance. Program BART police's number, 510-464-7000, into your phone, and make sure you have your bike's serial number recorded somewhere to aid in recovery.
