The basic idea is to abolish personal cars, do great things with the space that would free up, and use car sharing for when you need it. But here are some answe

The basic idea is to abolish personal cars, do great things with the space that would free up, and use car sharing for when you need it. But here are some answers to each of you point. Note that I have frequently seen all these being done many times. In a dense urban environment, biking is completely normal, and used for everyday transport by everyone from teenagers to people long retired: - Rain: There is waterproof clothing. It's actually quite fun to bike through rain. - Sweat: Workplaces should offer a place to take a shower–many actually do. But it's also acceptable to break a sweat from time to time. you only start smelling after x hours anyway, because that's a biological process. I'm also not sure if I don't sweat more in public transport or the office itself: remember, most of the world doesn't use AC. - Cold: I've spend many hours on a bike in 0degF weather and it's not a problem. The only "heavy-duty" clothing you need is for hands and your head. - Gravity: What goes uphill, must come downhill. With the right gearing, hill's aren't a problem. They just take longer in one direction than the other. Electric bikes are also an obvious solution to this, especially when they charge with brake energy. - Children: Child-seats in the back, or child trailers are quite common. The latter carry two children easily. - Visitors: "Bike-Sharing" also means sharing bikes with out-of towners. - IKEA: is the prototypical first stop for freshmen here in Germany, almost none of whom have a car. They seem to somehow manage, usually by renting a truck. Besides: I don't know any cars that could fit the usual IKEA haul. - Visiting the provinces: Public transport (+bike on public transport), or car sharing - Speed: Public transport again, or taxi, or car sharing: I have an archive of 12000km of rides through a dense city (Berlin), and I average 22km/h during the day, and 25km/h at night. That's almost exactly the average speed of a subway traveller (including changing trains etc.). It's also about as fast as a car during normal daytime, and much faster than rush hour traffic.