Suggested Citation:
Nelson, Trisalyn, Achituv Cohen, Elizabeth Schattle, Dillon T. Fitch-Polse, Moreno Zanotto, Meghan Winters, Seth Herr (2025)

Brief: Bike Theft: Estimating the Magnitude and Impacts on Bicycling Behavior

As cities invest in bicycle lanes to encourage active transportation, it may also be important to ensure safe bicycle parking and other measures of theft prevention. The magnitude of the problem is largely unknown, but it may be substantial given the ease of breaking bike locks, the potential for resale, and the challenges for law enforcement. Also, studies have shown that bike theft can deter a person from bicycling more in the future due to the difficulty replacing the bike or because they are concerned about another theft.

To better understand the impact of theft on cycling behavior and assist cities to determine where and how to invest in bike infrastructure and other strategies to ensure that all Californians have access to bicycling, we conducted a survey of bicycle thefts and recoveries. The study producedsuggestions for the State’s Active Transportation Program, and other funding programs for bicycling.

This policy brief is drawn from the pre-print of the Transport Findings   article   “Patterns   in   Bike   Theft   and   Recovery”   prepared  by  Achituv  Cohen  and  Trisalyn  Nelson  with  the  University  of  California,  Santa  Barbara,  and  Dillon  Fitch-Polse with the University of California, Davis, which can be found at: https://www.ucits.org/research-project/2023-09/.