What is interesting is that the countries these cities are in Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany have fertility rates of 1.7, 1.7, 1.5 births/female [0].
In other words, people aren't having that many children. When transporting children, cars become a whole lot more convenient than bicycles. You don't have to worry about them getting too cold or hot or wet. You can easily transport 3 children in the back of a car without difficulty (try doing that on a bicycle). The car can easily carry all the diapers and baby food you need for an outing as well as changes of clothing for inevitable accidents kids make.
Bikes are awesome for adults without children, cars seem better for those with children, especially young children.
I wonder if this push to bike friendliness is driven in part by the changing demographics of more adults without children.
0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_d...