A better critique would be lack of ability or safe routes, since many workarounds are needed to allow kids and those physically less able to get around by two wheels.
The vast majority of adults travel within 10km of their homes for most errands, which is definitely possible to hit with an analog bike. Ebikes can enable making double that distance easy.
That being said, even in actually rural areas where you are biking on a narrow shoulder with 50kph+ traffic next to you 20km each way in 0°C temps, many that don’t have other options still bike, so really it’s a preference for comfort/safety not lack of ability stopping most.
A better critique would be lack of ability or safe routes, since many workarounds are needed to allow kids and those physically less able to get around by two wheels.
The vast majority of adults travel within 10km of their homes for most errands, which is definitely possible to hit with an analog bike. Ebikes can enable making double that distance easy.
That being said, even in actually rural areas where you are biking on a narrow shoulder with 50kph+ traffic next to you 20km each way in 0°C temps, many that don’t have other options still bike, so really it’s a preference for comfort/safety not lack of ability stopping most.