It helps to replace ‘realistic’ with ‘palatable’, which at least conveys the issue more precisely as one of desirability rather than capability. Most U.S. voters for someone who interferes with drivers on behalf of non-drivers.

Streets are narrower in Europe. It should be easier in the US.

Are these many European cities that did it in the room with us right now?

Copenhagen seems to have figured it out.

... Are you claiming that there are few or no European cities with extensive separated bike lanes or something?

There is Copenhagen. And Dutch cities. I don't know if there are any other European cities with extensive separated bike lanes. Valencia has some bike lanes but I wouldn't call them extensive. Only 143 kilometers versus 515 kilometers in Amsterdam, which has a similar population.

Berlin certainly qualifies. If not by metric, then by vibe. Lightyears ahead of Chicago which I rate as a good city to bike in the US (and getting better under the current batch of aldercreatures).

143km sounds like quite a bit though, especially since separated bike lanes are usually for main thoroughfares, whereas many low-traffic side streets you simply bike down the middle.

A lot of Berlin's is footpath-based, right? They seem to be talking about segregated bike lanes, so that arguably wouldn't qualify (though it _is_ likely much safer than on-road).

Oh I guess I didn’t know the distinction. As a user of both I actually prefer the footpath based to the segregated bike lanes, although it seems to work best on the widest of Berlins streets where all of the following can coexist laterally:

  - Storefront
  - Outdoor seating 
  - Footpath (room for both ways)
  - Bike lane (one way)
  - Greenery (trees or shrubs)
  - Car door buffer
  - Parking lane
  - One or two lanes one way traffic
  - Green median
  - All the above mirrored for the other side

Example of this is Yorckstr. south of Mitte

Inclined to agree; only real problem with the on-street ones (presuming there's enough room for them) is that visitors unfamiliar with them tend to walk in them and cause a nuisance. The first time I was in Berlin I nearly got hit by a couple of bikes before I realised that the slightly-differently-coloured footpath meant something...

It likely depends how you're defining separated. Some cities go for completely separate routes, some curb separation, some bollard separation, some on-footpath separation. Some use a chaotic mix (Dublin, say, is building a 300km segregated system, but because this is being delivered by seven local authorities plus the National Transport Authority, it is a mix of seemingly every possible solution, including weird stuff like contraflow bike lanes, and bike lanes between on-street parking and the footpath).

Malmö has some of the best bike lanes in the world, IMO even better than Amsterdam and Copenhagen, who I'd say are top tier. Literally 2 meters wide at some points and separated by divider from even walking traffic

Forgot that one. Yes, with its low density and flat ground Malmo is a good candidate for cycling and they did it well. It will not take long before they are up to Dutch standards.

Comparison with Amsterdam is maybe not fair as Amsterdam has the worst cycling infrastructure of The Netherlands.

Alost all major cities France. Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Strasbourg. Should I go on?