I fail to see how these arent legit reasons for not commuting by bicycle to work.

• If one lives too far away to make it work, that seems like a good reason to not bike commute. Say they need to be at work at 7am and live 20miles away. Their spouse works out in the mornings at 5am so they are back at 6am. 20 miles in 1 hour?- not going to happen. Perhaps the spouse should not work out in the mornings and instead in the evenings. Oh no, they have kids and that takes an hour away from the whopping 3-4 possible hours each day they can see their kids.

Now if someone doesn’t have a children/obligations, 20mi with a 7am work start is possible.Its asking them to leave at 515 or so, but yes it is possible.

• A bad knee could be a very good reason to not bike commute since moving it with resistance more than a couple thousand times is required to go 10 or so miles. Sure, if its just a sore knee that takes time to loosen up, that may not be a reason to keep from bike commuting. But I also don’t consider that to be a bum knee.
• People are concerned about staying safe while riding since they see so many bad drivers each day when they drive. I certainly wouldn’t fault someone for being concerned that they wont stay safe when riding on streets, especially considering they most likely havent done it before. This is something that is possible to overcome, typically.
• Yeah…family activities in the evening are absolutely a legitimate reason to not bike commute. Take that 20mi commute with a 7am work start. They finish at 4pm(9 hours, 1 for lunch) and have a commute that will get them home at 545. Oh no, Timmy’s soccer practice starts at 530 and Tina’s dance class is at 6! Well that wont work. But hey, make your spouse take both of them! And have your spouse also get dinner ready while helping little Tommy with his homework.
• Um, not having a bike is a pretty bike impediment to commuting by bicycle.

The reality is that commuting by bike is not realistic for many(most) due to other life obligations. Family being the biggest. Kids take priority(or at least I think they should since you chose to have em). Being home and with them for the few hours each day you can see them is important to most.
Bike commuting works best for the outliers. Those who are single, or without kids, or have grown/older kids. Those who have flexible work hours, those who have a later work start, those who don’t need interstates to get to work, those who live close enough to work to make it feasible. Those who don’t have to go home to let out the puppy, those who don’t have to pick up kids from daycare, those who don’t have to get kids to sports/activities.

The closer to work people live, the easier it is to bike commute to work. Or I guess I should say the closer to home people work, since to me home should be the constant and the center. The later people can work and earlier they can leave, the easier it is to bike commute to work.
Overall, we don’t live in a society and don’t have a job market that accommodates to bike commuting. Its unfortunate, really.