Originally Posted by SalsaShark

People that want to ride will find a way to ride.
These 'barriers' only seem to hinder people that don't really have the mindset to cycle in the first place. It really boils down to comfort. People are used to being carried everywhere in motor vehicles. Any other means of transport is outside their normal comfort zone, and therefore, more difficult to achieve. Instead of admitting that it is simply too much physical activity to use any alternative human powered transport, they choose one of these convenient barriers as the reason for not ever using that bike hanging in the garage.
Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of the population really wants to ride a bicycle for transportation. It's not that it is physically difficult or unachievable for any able bodied person, it is simply not an activity for the lazy, and there is a lot of lazy out there.