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To put it into the words of the WHO:
> More than 15 years have passed since the publication of Global update 2005. In that time there has been a marked increase in evidence on the adverse health effects of air pollution, built on advances in air pollution measurement and exposure assessment and an expanded global database of air pollution measurements (discussed in Chapter 1. New epidemiological studies have documented the adverse health effects of exposure to high levels of air pollution in low- and middle-income countries, and studies in high-income countries with relatively clean air have reported adverse effects at much lower levels than had previously been studied.
Bike brakes and shoe soles don't have to slow down thousands of kilograms of mass either, so the wear and subsequent particulate emissions are much less than a car.
Walking or riding a bike is nice. But they are not suitable replacements for the multitude of utility a car provides.
I don't have stats but would wager that an even larger proportion of trips are not carrying more cargo than could fit in a backpack either.
1. https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-marc...
No, a bike is rarely a suitable solution to this problem. People want cars because they solve a lot of problems like freedom of movement at any time to any place with anyone and anything. If this was any way to live then people would actually be doing it. There's a reason MANY people move out the city when the kids start coming because subways and bikes are not very nice to manage these things.
This site is full of single dudes who live in urban areas and that's their world view. People with families do not fit into that lifestyle.
Beyond a certain network-density of other modes of transport, there are simply better alternatives to cars (in most cases).
Cars by themselves are the most inefficient (cost, space, fuel, economically) and polluting mode of land-based transport we have.
I know, it's a completely different thing in the US, which is full of car centric infrastructure and other modes of transport are either absent (passenger trains) or often impossible or outright dangerous due to the sheer danger caused by a lack of proper infrastructure for pedestrians/cyclists, public education/general behavior (road rage, drivers' education, ...) or even impossible to cover by bike due to the distances caused by urban sprawl/a lack of density due to zoning laws.
And after a while another man came and said "you shall not, its unhealthy. Take a train, which will bring you to a limited amount of places at certain times during the day. Ah and don't forget to pay your bike ticket because a bike is obviously a person as well"
Remember asbestos brake pads?