Originally Posted by
Chris L
That's a nice idea in theory, but the cost of retro-fitting entire cities (or at least creating a transport network large enough that it actually becomes usable) is prohibitive in most places, and most cities don't have the space for such a network anyway. Yes, I know someone will chime in here with a single exception where it's worked for them in some obscure part of the world, but in most places it's just not practical to build it.
A lot of people like to point to Copenhagen or some such Northern European country as a bicycle heaven because they have bike lanes and so on. But, I read a recent article where the author points out that Japan is also a bikers' heaven but they don't have bike lanes or any such infrastructure. Everyone is forced to learn how to properly share the road.