i agree with you on so many fronts. Unfortunately we need to be realistic. Cars are here, and more people want them, not less.
Bicycles only suit a small proportion of the population, and even then they are not always adequate.
The following is a rant - switch off now if not interested - not really off topic, not political but there is a chance grumpy OC will chastise me. After all it is NY and here is my merry story.
In the 50s, until I was 10, I lived in a big city in Europe less than 90 km from the little village where I was born. Everything was close - within 300m radius. Walked everywhere. My grandparents had bikes to go to work on their fields a few km out of town. 70 years later, the original old town within the castle walls is much the same, but outside it is slightly extended, perhaps 1km, for people to have houses on little blocks of land (all the other dwellings in the "new" town outside the walls are in 2or3 storey apartments all attached as one large single building). Watch the early scenes of the Dutch movie Antonia's Line and compare with the final scenes and you get the idea. The big difference between old and new,? Cars. Cars everywhere. The streets used to belong to people now it's the other way round.
So yes, bicycles would be better. On the other hand 2 of my grandparents died of pneumonia because they got caught out in winter in the rain when returning from their fields.
Every summer holidays I would go to stay with my grandparents. Bus to the train. Train to the bottom of the hill below the village, and there would be a connecting bus to take us to the top. The connecting bus service now has disappeared except for one in the morning and one in the evening for the city workers. But the main thing for me as a child is that this was an adventure - it took the whole day, whereas now it's just one hour by car. Apart from the nostalgic aspect of the trip I doubt people would prefer to do it the old way now.
For several decades I lived and worked in Canberra. At one stage I started to go to work by bike. 12 km away - about average for most Canberra people who live in the outer suburbs. After a while I gave up. It was too hard - although the hills are gentle, and there are plenty of cycle paths, the only people who could really do it are the athletes or fitness fanatics. To top it all off (is criticizing the govt political?) the govt kept on relocating their offices. You might buy a house near work, then 5 years later you find you are 20km away. Strewth - some people had to relocate to Armidale! In Europe I see tax, law courts, libraries and other office buildings serving the same purpose for hundreds of years, yet in oz, especially in Canberra, we need to knock buildings down continuously.
I would dearly love to get rid of cars - they make cities ugly, but cycles aren't the answer. Maybe car sharing. I don't know. At least EVs will reduce the number of petrol tankers on the highways.
I can't see anything on the horizon that looks like threatening the demand for lithium, nor for our mine. So life is good .. for PLS holders.
(20min delay)