Federal Highway Administration:

Providing secure bicycle parking is a key ingredient in efforts to encourage bicycling at the local level. Many bicycle journeys end somewhere other than the bicyclist’s home and, as a result, the bicyclist must park his or her bicycle. And for those who live in apartment complexes, college dormitories, or other highdensity settings, the issue of where to leave a bike while at home is also a serious issue. In short, at one time or another, most bicyclists have experienced the frustration of finding no secure place to leave their bikes.

Some have experienced the even greater frustration of returning to find their bicycles stolen. In fact, statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that between 1988 and 1992, an average of approximately 450,000 bicycles were reported stolen each year. These figures are low, according to the Lock Smart Campaign, which estimates that roughly twice as many are stolen, but never reported. They suggest that, with an average cost of $380 per bike, the financial loss to American bicyclists amounts to $450 million dollars per year.

While providing secure bicycle parking is not the entire solution to the problem of theft, it certainly can help and it can increase bicyclists’ comfort in leaving their bicycles unattended. As a result, many bicycle owners may be encouraged to make bicycle trips that they might otherwise forego.

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via bikecentric