[panglott]

In a mid-sized American city, I prefer to cycle since downtown and the inner-ring suburbs have 15-20 minute bicycle trips. My wife and I split a car.

Traffic is not as bad as the worst places: you can drive most places in town within about a half-hour. But when you have to run a couple of errands in the car-centric suburbs, that time piles up quickly. Try to run 2-3 errands in the suburbs and you're spending hours driving. It's horrible.

Of course, we have no light rail and the buses are really slow. Cycling is the main viable alternative.

[restalis]

Unfortunately, cycling gets you sweated and crumpled, and that makes itself a non-starter for a lot of jobs, unless at the destination you have access to showers and a change of clothes. Cycling is however an option for many other mobility needs.