I know that for a lot of people in the US, their experience with bike commuting involves being stuck behind a bicycle on a road that doesn't have bike lanes, causing a certain amount of free-floating antipathy towards bikers.
The unlimited point-to-point mobility provided by a car allows people to optimize their routines almost down to the second, so losing 30 seconds behind a cyclist can make the difference between being on time and being late. Though this can be disputed, I would argue that aggressively minimizing time spent in transportation (and thus maximizing time spent at work or leisure) is beneficial to the economy and society.
... except I know way too many people who voluntarily subscribe to 50-60 minute commutes in a car instead of simply living closer to work.
Optimizing for less time spent in transportation is nice, but there's a balance - both for yourself and society. A bunch of gas-guzzling one-ton hunks of steel squeezing their way down a packed freeway, with only a single passenger inside each... hardly seems beneficial to the economy, society, or the environment.
The commute isn't necessarily voluntary -- living closer to work may not be viable (especially for non-programmer types who work in the city but don't make enough to afford living there with their family), or may lack certain features (like a private yard or swimming pool) that make the commute worth it.
I'm not advocating for the status quo of one giant inefficient beast of steel per person, just explaining why some drivers get upset about small delays. It is my opinion that any transportation system that completely replaces the current road system will need to allow for the type of minimal-latency point-to-point mobility we now enjoy with cars (during off-peak hours, at least). The reason I believe this is that people are easy to move, but businesses, houses, and other resources are not. Extra mobility allows us to match the right people with the right resources in less time.
They have a similar viewpoint here in Italy, where they don't stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. I once helped a "little old lady" cross the street, not by taking her arm, but by striding out to stop the flow of cars, who were very aggressively minimizing the time spent stopping for other users of the road.
Except for when they're stuck in traffic, which is pretty much the norm in any city on any weekday.
I used to live in NYC, and taking the subway, walking or biking was far more time efficient than taking a cab, much less driving your own car. LA wasn't really any better for driving, but the distances were usually to far for bikes, and mass transit was miserable.
Yup, by opposing bike lanes they avoid associating themselves with the bikers that annoy them, even though bike lanes would remove the cause of the annoyance. That's primate political dynamics for you.
