On Saturday, October 14, 2017 at 5:58:02 PM UTC-5, Joerg wrote:

But there is that small subset of people that if you have rails to
trails so that they feel relatively isolated from asshole drivers
WILL take up cycling and gradually grow in confidence. Especially
with the help of bike clubs.


There are a lot of those people, it is not a small sub-set. I'd venture
to say the majority of riders in our area. This is clearly evidenced by
the number of riders who cart their bikes to the bike path, unload and
then start their sports ride or mixed-mode commute.



Thankfully I live in a city that has miles and miles of bike trails in town and out of town. Several hundred miles in total trails. It definitely helps get people on bicycles. There is a bar/town about 10 miles down one trail. In the summer there are several hundred people riding to the bar and back several evenings a week. I don't really care if the net benefit is a detriment to them or not. Or whether they are healthy or not. As long as they are riding a bike, its good. The trails see a lot of activity. I don't know if these people would bicycle without trails or not. Some would not. Some would.