How can you get people not to drive car and ride bikes?

Answer 1

That's difficult. For some people bike riding just isn't an option, they have too far to travel, too much they need to carry etc. Others are intimidated by having to share the road with cars, and feel too scared to ride. Others are put off by having to arrive out of breath and maybe even sweaty.

But of course there are thing that can be done to make bike riding more attractive:

1. If you're an employer, provide change/shower facilities and a safe place to park the bikes. You'd easily fit 10 bikes into the place of one car, so it's an easy trade.
2. If you're a city planner, make place for the bikes when drawing up plans for roads, intersections and sidewalks. In dense city traffic what works best is usually to have the bikes behave as if they were cars, called vehicular riding. When road speeds begin to pick up, separate bike paths are better.
3. If you're in public affairs/public relations, try to push for cyclists equal rights to the road. Today there's a lot of aggression from car drivers being directed against riders, even outright threats.
4. If you're just a single citizen, respect the rights of cyclists and share the road gracefully when you need to.