Originally Posted by
Doohickie
Trust me on this one. The vast majority of people in the U.S. will never ride a bike for transportation. Think of your own extended family. Which ones would even consider it?
I tend to agree with you that even if/when fuel prices become prohibitive for our current car use there will be other alternatives such as mass transit combined with highly efficient electric scooters and carts, etc. along with redesigned cities and neighborhoods that minimize the need for so much daily travel.
But in my case the answer to your question would be just about everyone. My parents are now both deceased, but my father did sometimes bike to work and as a young man he did a solo bike tour across the Alps. He rarely used a bike for transportation, but certainly wouldn't have ruled it out as an option. My mother didn't get a driver's license until after I left for college and frequently got around by bicycle. When we didn't have our own washing machine for awhile, she and I would load up our bikes with loads of clothes and ride to a laundromat. My aunt was still hopping on her bike for a daily ride to the neighborhood bakery when she was in her '90s and sometimes my uncle would accompany her by bike on local shopping trips. My brother did some solo bike tours through Europe when younger and still uses a bike for local urban transportation occasionally. My wife no longer bicycles, but she and I used to commute on our tandem. And our daughter has also not biked recently, but it wasn't that long ago that she was still in college and used a bike as daily transportation.