Not too many people can make that decision on the sole basis of their preferred mode of transport.
The rational decision for most people is "live where you live because you have things keeping you there" - good, bad, job, family, friends, responsibilities, or otherwise. Given the choice between a) driving 25 miles for work everyday and keeping the status quo versus b) uprooting your family, changing jobs, and risking your savings to move to a new city ... so you can have the benefit of riding or walking to work?
These decisions don't happen in a bubble, there are tradeoffs. Sadly transport is rarely considered as one of them. The car is a convenient default. And while many people might consider riding or walking to work, they aren't going to unless systematic changes are in place to really tip that balance towards an urban/cycling lifestyle that's viable for more people.
Infrastructure, bike lanes, shower and bike lock facilities, etc. sure those might help.
But the real issue is that most adults (in America at least) are stretched so thin on time, forced by economic realities to take on multiple jobs and responsibilities that effectively makes owning a car a requirement to navigate the suburban hellscape safely and quickly.
To recap, things that have an impact and will help cities become vibrant net-zero communities
- Economic reform so people can afford decent bike gear or a few extra hours for riding and maintenance
- Cycling infrastructure so people feel safe and don't stink at work
- Rebuilding entire city centers so people can do life without a car
- Empathy towards people who still need to rely on a car because the transition to the above will take time
Things that will be completely counter-productive and discourage people from engaging with cities
- Shaming everyone into your particular brand of urban cycling lifestyle because you think it would be good for them and they should just "make it so".
It’s not about shaming people, it’s just about pointing out possibilities and offering solutions. Whenever this topic comes up people love to bring up contrived edge cases and dismiss biking completely.
“It doesn’t work if you have an emergency during a blizzard, so therefore you should never bike”
“It doesn’t work for a single mother with three jobs so nobody should do it”
“We haven’t completely rebuilt the entire urban infrastructure into a biking utopia and achieved perfect economic justice so therefore nobody can bike”
Nonsense. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Not every single person needs to bike and even those that do don’t need to bike all the time for every trip. That doesn’t mean there isn’t tons of low-hanging fruit to turn lots of bike trips into car trips.
Not too many people can make that decision on the sole basis of their preferred mode of transport.
The rational decision for most people is "live where you live because you have things keeping you there" - good, bad, job, family, friends, responsibilities, or otherwise. Given the choice between a) driving 25 miles for work everyday and keeping the status quo versus b) uprooting your family, changing jobs, and risking your savings to move to a new city ... so you can have the benefit of riding or walking to work?
These decisions don't happen in a bubble, there are tradeoffs. Sadly transport is rarely considered as one of them. The car is a convenient default. And while many people might consider riding or walking to work, they aren't going to unless systematic changes are in place to really tip that balance towards an urban/cycling lifestyle that's viable for more people.
Infrastructure, bike lanes, shower and bike lock facilities, etc. sure those might help.
But the real issue is that most adults (in America at least) are stretched so thin on time, forced by economic realities to take on multiple jobs and responsibilities that effectively makes owning a car a requirement to navigate the suburban hellscape safely and quickly.
To recap, things that have an impact and will help cities become vibrant net-zero communities - Economic reform so people can afford decent bike gear or a few extra hours for riding and maintenance - Cycling infrastructure so people feel safe and don't stink at work - Rebuilding entire city centers so people can do life without a car - Empathy towards people who still need to rely on a car because the transition to the above will take time
Things that will be completely counter-productive and discourage people from engaging with cities - Shaming everyone into your particular brand of urban cycling lifestyle because you think it would be good for them and they should just "make it so".