Originally Posted by
cat0020
The difference is the mentality.
Most Americans are used to driving everywhere, even if it is 2 or 5 mile away to a store to pick up groceries.
In large American cities that have the mass transit available, you still have most motorized vehicles that have single occupant and no passenger.
Without a bike lane taking up the roads or streets, there will be just more cars, no reduction in drivers, no increase in mass transits usage.
Additionally, most Americans consider bikes, ebikes or motorcycles as toys; they don't belong on the roads, they are not considered alternatives to cars.
Not true when choices have been removed by profit maximizing corporations. City lot sizes and dimensions changed when trolley car lines were removed and cars took their place by default. I walked or bikes to school for 12 years but today it is often not safe for children or adults to walk or bicycle anywhere. The interstate highway system foolishly promoted by President Eisenhower made matters far worse. While Europe and Asia build light rail and high speed trains the U.S. government funded freeways which cut cities in half and forced people into cars. Even where I attended college a pork project that benefited only local contractors was done to build a 12 lane freeway through a town of 7,000 people. Students that walked or biked to campus were forced to buy cars which is not a trivial expensve for a student. I spent my last year in college as a homeless person as I could not afford both a car and to pay rent for an apartment.
It is also not appreciated that the "flight" to the suburbs were race based as white parents wanted to move to whites only enclaves and protect their children from exposure to children of color. This is still going on and why the big push for charter schools to continue with racial segregation that is so important to weaken workers in this country and keep them enslaved and living paycheck to paycheck. People have been deluded into thinking that they actually have a choice and live in a democracy.