Last summer, my partner and I spent a few weeks in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Each of these cities offered fast and efficient public transit systems and plenty of human-scaled, walkable neighborhoods. But equally impressive were the ways these cities were thoughtfully rebuilding streets to give people the freedom to define the meaning of personal transportation, instead of merely accepting the driving default.

Every day, we saw people comfortably traveling on foot as well as on bicycles, tricycles, e-bikes, scooters, e-scooters, motorized scooters, skateboards, longboards, and rollerblades. They were using vehicles appropriately scaled to the size of their bodies and the demands of the trip. And they were able to do this because of meaningful public investment in a connected network of protected bike lanes, sidewalks, and off-street trails. Even in areas lacking dedicated infrastructure, traffic was typically slowed to the point that the streets became feasible places for all users.

And by opening up the streets to all, they actually reduced congestion. Because every time you replace an SUV with a footprint of 115 square feet with a bike that requires 12 square feet of road space, or an e-scooter that takes up about 4 square feet, you’re doing everyone a favor.