Well, I have rarely ridden a bike since I was an undergraduate in Cambridge over 50 years ago. But I could not agree with you more. What a useless contraption. As, presumably, the idea is that you leave the bike there overnight and use it for the last mile of your commute into town, even the shelter doesn't do much good as (a) you will get wet as soon as you leave it, and (b) it will get wet overnight unless there is a flat calm. As for security, well, that is not all that great. If you actually work on the West Cambridge site, then you will be lucky to live within cycling distance.