Unfortunately this just reaffirms why I don't use a bike for transport. For me, the mental stress of worrying about bike theft and going through all these procedures + the depressing feeling of eventually having it stolen is greater than the actual value of the bike..

I enjoy riding my bike for fitness but when I'm done riding, it always goes back inside my apartment where it's pretty close to impossible to steal. This does unfortunately make it useless for anything but fitness. I'd love to see some systematic changes put in place to crack down on bike theft but its out of my control.

My commuter bikes usually cost in the neighbourhood of $1k. I've had 7 bikes stolen in 30 years of commuting, going back to when I was a kid, across 3 cities and numerable living situations.

A year's worth of monthly transit passes (currently, where I am) costs $1200. 30 years of transit would cost $36k.

Compare that to the $7k I've spent on bikes to do the same job. I could have bikes stolen at 5 times the rate, and I would still be getting the best transportation deal around.

Sometimes I leave my bike alone for hours in kind of a sketchy place, and when I do it's in the hands of the fates. I don't let it ruin my fun. I'm way to cheap to be getting uptight about stolen bicycles.