I'm one of many Australians who once owned a bike and who looks forward to owning one again - sometime in the future. 
In Britain, for fifteen years my bike was my main means of independent transport long before cycle ways were introduced. Long distance transport to the countryside, where I had many a cycling holiday, was simple. Every train had a goods van for securely stowing bikes. Despite London's narrower, more congested city streets, car and truck drivers knew better how to share them. Even at 80 years old, my Great Aunt Vera felt safe enough to cycle to the bakery. During the holidays, school grounds provided easy access to youth and adult training on how to cycle and to follow the highway code. These things helped to make cycling safe, straightforward and an everyday feature of many people's lives.

All that changed when I emigrated to Australia. Despite the recent, limited introduction of cycle ways, the combination of faster speed limits and drivers unwilling to share the road, let alone give way, currently make cycling too risky for this organic gardener.

I believe that cycle training, slower speed limits, acceptance of shared roads, universal cycle ways, improved stowage facilities on public transport and at workplaces, and improved driver education might just reclaim our streets for public transport.

Peak Oil means a new dawn for cycling, but until our roads are safer with drivers trained to act responsibly, many Australians are denied their right to simple, cheap, reliable and healthy transport by bike. And we don't need to reinvent the wheel, just to look and learn from nations that know best how to provide equal access to public transport: China, Denmark and Cuba.