The main obstacle to getting more people to rely on bikes for transportation is accessibility. Most neighborhoods and cities in North America are not bike accessible. Look at your average Joe-SUV suburb in the U.S. The streets, shopping centers, housing, and entertainment centers, and basic infrastructures are built around the automobile. Four lane highways, with busy intersections are dangerous even to people in cars, never mind bikes. Side roads are a little better, but don't provide practical routes for the utility cyclist. As I think others have said, the answer is clearly not a few dollars spend on half-assed bike trails. I agree that these“biking facilities” built buy politicians and ass kissers are not helping people on bikes. I think the answer involves changing the basic infrastructure of populated areas (takes money), and a change of public mindset (which will also take money). This scenario is, of course, fanciful because as Kev says, it’s not a priority of either the government or the public.
So for now, I'll continue to ride with all the cars
