Originally Posted by swwhite

I would begin removing all possible obstacles to using bicycles for regular short-range transportation.

1. All businesses must have covered bicycle parking that is positioned so it is under observation by store employees (to reduce theft).

2. Start a massive public-service advertising campaign to make sure everyone realizes that bicycles are allowed to use the streets.

3. Ticket and fine bicycle drivers who break traffic laws when on the public streets.

4. Require everyone who operates any kind of vehicle on the public streets to pass a test. For anyone who has a driver license, this has been done already. This would apply to someone who does not have a driver license but is caught riding a bicycle on the street.

5. Find some way (tax policy, etc.) to expand telecommuting. This would reduce car traffic.

6. Increase gasoline taxes and use the money to find ways to reduce car use, and thus congestion and dependence on oil.

7. Subsidize, and encourage the development of, bike stations where people can park for the day, store gear, have lunch, and so on.

8. Declare (in appropriate areas) regular (like once a month, or every Sunday) car-free days.

9. Have all urban planners trained in bicycle issues. That would be things like safe street configurations, direct routes to popular areas, traffic-light sensors that can detect bicycles.

10. When possible and reasonable, build dedicated bike lanes. In the United States, expecting to make enough bike lanes so a person can go anywhere he might want to on a dedicated bike lane is unrealistic. But for some heavily-used areas, a physically protected bike lane might be a good investment.

11. Import, subsidize, and sell various foreign cargo bikes, or encourage domestic manufacturing of them (like bakfiets).

12. Get more fashionably-dressed women on bicycles. Someone has suggested that if one could accomplish that, bicycle use would increase dramatically.

That's all that comes to mind at this time.