Getting people out on their bikes on city streets requires making them feel less vulnerable than they currently do..to make them feel that they have a right to be out there on their bike on equal footing with cars. That means educated drivers who won’t honk at you for taking the lane when required, and bicyclists who operate in proper vehicular fashion and give and get respect out there on the street. And equal enforcement for all.

Bikes won’t be taken seriously until everyone (car drivers, bike riders, and the overseeing authorities alike) considers them as legitimate vehicles.

Same roads, same rules, same responsibilities!!

One of the earlier posters suggested something to the effect that “ped-friendly does not equal bike-friendly.”

They’re not absolutely equal but, boy, if a city has the ped-friendly vehicle speed reductions and parking policies, educated and careful motorists, enforcement programs, traffic signal operations, placemaking and density, that’s arguably only a few bike racks this side of bicycle-friendly.

Put another way: A city can be deemed bicycle-friendly (on the basis of bicycle-specific infrastructure or programs) and not be nearly the attractive or pleasurable human habitat as one that is clearly bicycle-friendly.