This is true, NL is a small country and we really have to be conservative with our space. I was amazed to see, when I was in the US, how widely spaced out everything is, especially the suburbs. Those distances do add up quickly and perhaps make for less interesting bike rides. I'd probably still get one if I lived there, just because it's easier to get around for small distances, but I've heard for some people the nearest supermarket is a few miles away, then yeah, going by car makes a lot of sense.
You can't easily change such geographic/cityplanning type of differences either, I think.
It takes a long time. Vancouver, BC was very successful with this because they built a new transit system back in the '80s (Skytrain) and then clustered density around the stations. It's been extremely succesful, and there is also a complimentary system of bicycles boulevards for people to ride bikes.
Here in the US, however, the car rules, for better (but mostly) worse. I had an incident on my bike last Monday in Palo Alto with a car where I fell and broke my hand.
Trying to code with a broken hand is rather... interesting.
You can't easily change such geographic/cityplanning type of differences either, I think.