You're talking specifically about North American cities, where everything is designed around automobile usage. And that is the problem the article talks about.

You're talking specifically about North American cities, where everything is designed around automobile usage. And that is the problem the article talks about. It has been designed with this goal in mind so much, that it results in lots of pedestrian and cyclist deaths. Cities that are not designed like this are much compacter, so distances become smaller. Commuting 5km by bicycle is fine, takes roughly 20 mins if the roads are decent. Using a tram or bus that has a decent frequency it will take roughly the same time, even including a few minutes of walking. See example: https://www.google.nl/maps/dir/52.1136289,5.0897208/52.0860586,5.1080626/@52.1008013,5.0659812,21797m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!4m1!3e1?hl=en https://www.google.nl/maps/dir/52.1136289,5.0897208/52.08605...