Why didn't they just subsidize bike and bike lock purchases for individuals?
You can do the same thing (though not quite as convenient) with a folding bike.
They could put a plan in place to offer incentives for people to buy some standard folding bicycle. Folders are expensive because there aren't too many produced and because they need to be fairly light, however, mass-produced they shouldn't be too expensive.
> Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each,
They have thought extremely hard how to make the bike so expensive. A fancy normal bike costs $200. How the hell do you pay that much for a bike?
I paid $5000 for my car...