There was a local bus stop by the train station in Des Plaines, IL, and there was a bus that went a couple of blocks from my house. The train I usually took from my job in downtown Chicago was one of the most popular, and dozens of commuters got off at that station. Cleverly, the last bus of the day was scheduled to leave, typically almost empty, just as that train was approaching. It would have been a long walk to my house, but not impossible, if there had just been sidewalks.
Many years later, my wife and I were destined to become apartment dwellers for a while. We briefly considered a nice complex, located, I believe, in Hillary Clinton's home town, Park Ridge. I still commuted to downtown Chicago frequently, and those apartments were located a healthy one-mile walk from the nearest Rapid Transit station. Or maybe not so healthy, since there was no sidewalk on either side of the road, a heavily travelled four-lane. Walking in the roadway would have suicidal. The option of walking to the train could have motivated us to choose an apartment there.
We're now residents of beautiful southwest Michigan, where we're known affectionately as FIP's, or "fxxxing Illinois people," but have a very modest second home in Chicago's northwest suburbs. When we're there, we often attend worship services at a location 1.83 miles away. Reasonably "walkable," and certainly "bikable," if there were sidewalks or a bike path all the way. Getting across the intersection of Highway 83 and Lake Cook Road on foot, especially after dark, is the stuff of action movies.
Chicago has now invested in "bike lanes." Ha! A yellow stripe in the right lane marks off a strip wide enough for a bicyclist, maybe even wide enough for one bicyclist to pass another. No barrier between cyclists and cars, only an occasional yellow symbol on the pavement supposedly reminding motorists that this lane is for bikes. In some areas cars have to drive across the bike lane to get to parking places, and at intersections it's a virtual open season on cyclists. Drivers regularly occupy bike lanes with impunity. Yet some brave souls do use them, mostly physically fit serious bicylists. There's little incentive for those who regularly go by car to switch to pedal power.
I'm talking specifically about Chicago and its suburbs because that's the part of the world I've known best since 1967, but I've observed similar situations in other parts of the country I've visited. Bicycling for fun is commonplace, but rare for practical purposes. In too many communities, sidewalks are unheard of. Intersections are friendly to neither cyclists or pedestrians.
I'm all for wind, solar, hydrogen power, electric cars, you name it. It will take many years and lots of money before we're ready to take full advantage of all of them. By comparison, making it practical, safe, and inviting to use the legs nature gave us is nickle and dime stuff. As a bonus, many of us would shed some of our blubber and thus spend less on healthcare.
This should be one of the priorities in our energy-independence efforts.