Except you don't actually know the whole story. If they have better, safer bike parking at the office then is available at the bus stop, that would be a good reason to take their bikes, too. For my part, a couple of days a week I am likely to take the bus in the morning, so I can get to work on time and not too sweaty, and then ride my bike home when I'm not pressed for time, and I know there's a shower at the other end if I need it. I also sometimes have use for my bike during the work day. I don't see any reason to avoid taking the bus just because someone else might need the bike rack. I expect they are as capable of riding the distance as I am if need be. But then in several years of doing a bike and bus combo to get to work, I have only seldom seen the rack full, and have only once not been able to put my bike on the bus because both rack slots were full before I got there. I wouldn't caution people against using the racks for any reason. The more they are used, the more incentive there is to expand bike capacity. And if people really don't need to take their bikes with them, and the racks are used to capacity a lot, then I expect those people will learn not to depend on open rack space, and will stop biking or lock their bikes up at the bus stop.

This works on the busses I ride, too. At least it does on my 700c wheel. I've only had the hook fall off once, and that's because the hook spring was bad, although if my fenders covered more of the top portion of my wheel, it might be an issue more often, but as it is it's not a problem, and that's on 2 separate 700c wheeled bikes and two separate types of fenders. But on my 20 inch wheeled bike, that doesn't work. The hook might pull tight against the wheel if it was pulling straight down, but if I actually tried to place the hook in front of the fender, the spring would not even be engaged, and the hook would slide right off. That bike not only has fenders, but also an open, "rat trap," top rack. That means that I can't get the hook directly over the tire, so instead I pull it up over the rack and hook it into the rack. That holds it pretty good. Then yesterday a bus driver suggested I try and hook it between the rack and the steering tube, which took some fiddling to get it in place, around the brake cable, but once it was there, it seemed a lot more secure than just hooking it though the rack, although it has never seemed insecure.

I have had one incident where the hook had a very weak spring which fell off the wheel (of my 700c bike) and left the bike just held in place by the pressure of the wheels against the trough they sit in. I was worried that the rims would be bent as a result, but, thankfully, they were not. I also had one badly attached rack that seemed to wobble and pivot a little around the center. That one made me nervous, but it still worked.

I don't worry too much about theft, but I do try and sit where I can keep an eye on the bike. I also have a frame-mounted O-lock, so if I was really worried, I could engage the O-lock when I put it on the rack. It wouldn't prevent someone from removing it, but they would not be able to ride off. If you're worried about theft, that might be something to consider, especially because I believe that many places do not allow you to lock your bike to the rack.